Master Chronicles
by Delta Knight
Summary: Robert Terre is a Tyranitar morph, just like his brother. But soon after he's crowned champion of Kanto, his brother, Alex, goes missing. Robert joins Ash, Misty, and Brock to find out what happened. AAML. /One of my bad stories/
1. Kanto Master

Master Chronicles

By Delta Knight

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, the anime would actually be good, and Pokémon Special would be available in the U.S. I do, however, own this particular fic, and my original characters: Robert, Alex, etc.

2nd Note: This takes place in an AU from the anime, but they have identical continuity up until near the end of Master Quest, which is where this story begins.

Character ages:

Ash: 15

Misty: 15

Gary: 15

Robert (My OC): 15

Brock: 20

Alex (My other OC): 27

/\ DK /\

--

Chapter 1: Kanto Master

Robert Terre was about to face the biggest challenge of his life. He was about to challenge Lance, Champion of the Elite Four, for the crown of Pokémon Master of the Kanto Region. Although Robert was from Blackthorn City, he didn't want to follow in his father's and brother's footsteps and start his Pokémon journey in his home region of Johto. No, instead, he wanted to create his own legend, and sail east to Kanto, where he would start his own Pokémon quest.

"Will the challenger, Robert Terre from Blackthorn City, please enter the ring," said the referee.

Robert did. Of course he did. He, in fact, had already been standing in the ring; the referee's request was simply a formality.

Robert was wearing the same clothes he had started his long journey in. He wore a black vest over a plain sky blue T-shirt, and wore thick, baggy, forest green cargo pants. He also wore white shoes and black fingerless gloves. His wavy hair, which was naturally green, went down to the bottom of his ears, and nearly to the base of his neck. He was about 5' 4" tall, white-skinned, and had emerald green eyes. On his head, he wore a blue and white cap. He was ready.

"Will both trainers please select their Pokémon," said the referee.

Robert had been planning for this moment for nearly 5 years. He knew which Pokémon he would choose first. One that would be ideal against Dragon types.

"Go, Red October!" screamed Robert as he threw the red and white Pokéball, out of which a menacingly tough-looking Cloyster materialized.

There were a few surprised sounds from the stands; surprised that someone would choose a Water/Ice type against a Dragon type. But not too many—most people realized that the majority of Ice types found in local areas were also Water types, and everyone but the densest 5-year old knew of the advantage that Ice types had over Dragon types.

"Go, Dragonite," Lance said calmly. He had an aura of confidence that seemed to pulse out of every pore of his body. He'd been through this before. A fierce looking Dragonite materialized in front of him. So the match up was Dragonite vs. Red October (a.k.a. Cloyster).

"Begin!' proclaimed the referee, as he motioned with his flags (I forget if they go up or down).

"Dragonite, use Dragon Dance!" says Lance. Dragonite then proceeded to fly around in the air, and then glowed a faint blue, which indicated a stat boost.

"Red October, use Aurora Beam!" Robert yelled.

"Cloyster," it responded, and then launched a rainbow-colored beam from its horn. The beam hit Dragonite, as it was too busy Dragon Dancing to evade the Aurora Beam. Dragonite then collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Dragonite, got enough HP left for a actual attack?" asked a now mildly less confident Lance.

"Nite," –Yes,- it replied.

"Then use Dragon Claw! There's no way that that _Cloyster_ can dodge your attack!" says Lance. Dragonite, though battered and bruised, surged forward, its claws glowing a pure white.

"Red October, use Withdraw!" Robert commanded.

Red October then closed its shell tightly shut. Dragonite hit Red October's shell, but it bounced right off of it.

"Great, Red October, now use Blizzard and finish Dragonite off!" Robert said.

"Cloy," responded Red October as it began a Blizzard attack, which completely and utterly knocked out the Dragonite.

"Dragonite is unable to battle. Red October wins the round!" stated the referee.

Cheers erupted from the crowd. Robert was excited, too. Only 5 more steps up the ladder to go.

"Now, don't get cocky. You've only eliminated one of my Pokémon," advised Lance.

"Think of it as a foreshadowing of what's to come," Robert shot back. "Now choose your next Pokémon, Lance."

"Go, Dragonite!" said Lance.

"Red October," Robert asked. "Do you think that you can go for another round, or should I let Mariemaia handle this round?"

"Cloyster. Cloyster ster cloy cloy Cloyster," -Of course. I have been trained by the best,- Red October answered.

"Gee, thanks, Red October. Soon the whole world will know the truth of your words. Stay out there, then!" Robert said.

"Round Two, begin!" said the referee. So Round Two was identical to the first one: Dragonite vs. Red October (a.k.a. Cloyster).

"Dragonite," stated Lance. "Twister!" So Dragonite began to fly around in a circle, moving faster and faster, until a miniature tornado appeared on the field. The tornado, or the Twister, began speeding towards Red October.

"Red October, cancel out one weather phenomenon with another! Use another Blizzard!" Robert said.

Interestingly, Robert's hypothesis about how Pokémon generated weather interacted was false—instead of the two weather forces knocking each other out, they merged. So, the end result was an intensely swirling blizzard—though due to the force from "impact" with the Blizzard attack, the frigid cyclone then proceeded to head back towards the Dragonite. Dragonite then got caught in the icy storm, and as a result of it, fainted.

"O. K., that works, too, I guess," said a pleased Robert.

"Dragonite is unable to battle. Red October wins the round!" said the referee.

Now the crowd started to get pumped up. This challenger from Johto had made easy work out of not one, but _two_ of Lance's Dragonite. He had a chance of winning. They wanted to see the full value of their notoriously expensive 100 tickets be fulfilled.

"Gyarados, Go!" said a now noticeably less confident, but still confident, Lance.

"Red October, can you handle yet another round?" Robert asked.

"Closter Cloyster," -You know that I can,- Red October answered, jovial as ever.

"Then stay out there, again!" Robert said.

"Round Three, begin!" said the referee. So the third round was Gyarados vs. Red October.

"Gyarados, use Dragon Breath!" commanded Lance. Gyarados then opened its mouth, and a jet of flames blasted from Gyarados' mouth to Red October.

"Um, Red October, use Hydro Pump!" Robert stuttered.

"Cloyster!" Red October fired an equally powerful torrent of water from its shell. Unfortunately, though it hit the oncoming Dragon Breath attack, it was not powerful enough to stop it, and so, the Dragon Breath attack found its way to Red October. Red October got burnt nearly to a charred black cinder because of the Dragon Breath attack, yet incredibly, Red October was still standing (Or whatever Cloysters do to stay upright).

"But how?" asked a baffled Lance.

"Focus Band," Robert answered.

"Cheapskate," Lance murmured.

"What was that?" Robert asked.

"Nothing," Lance said.

"Red October, use Blizzard again!" Robert said.

"Not so fast. Gyarados, use Dragon Breath!" said Lance.

Before the Blizzard could even begin, the inferno had reached Red October, KO'ing it.

"Red October is unable to battle. The round goes to Gyarados!" said the referee.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. Now, even if he lost, at least it wouldn't be a shut out. Lance had never been shut out in League match, either as an Elite Four member, or as a competitor.

"Gyarados, stay out there," he ordered.

"Hmm, well, I guess I'll use Mariemaia!" said Robert, as he threw another Pokéball from his hand. Out of it appeared a Delibird.

"Mariemaia, use Present!" Robert said. Although it wouldn't be super-effective against Gyarados, he still hoped to hit the 100 damage Present.

The Present hit Gyarados, but instead of exploding, for some reason, it began to make Gyarados glow. It was the healing Present.

"Son of a bitch!" Robert swore.

"Why, thank you," said Lance. "Now, Gyarados, use Dragon Breath again!"

Gyarados then blasted Mariemaia with another powerful Dragon Breath attack. Mariemaia then fainted.

"It's O. K., Mariemaia, you tried your best. Return!" Robert assured Mariemaia.

"We're all tied up again," said Lance.

"So it would seem," said Robert.

"Mariemaia is unable to battle. The round goes to Gyarados!" said the referee.

"Gyarados, stay out there, again," said Lance.

"Go, Slare!" said Robert. A feisty Sneasel appeared from out of its Pokéball.

"Slare, use Dark Pulse!" cried Robert.

Slare's Dark Pulse then began to, well, pulse throughout the stadium. It then hit Gyarados, and knocked it backwards.

"Dos…" it groaned, for it was in pain. Dark Pulse on its own did 80 damage, and with the STAB it received for Slare being a Dark type, it inflicted a great deal of pain to Gyrados. Gyarados looked hurt, but it was definitely still in it.

"Gyarados, get over it and use another Dragon Breath!" said Lance.

Gyarados, once again, breathed flames from its mouth. The flames were directed towards Slare.

"Slare, dodge it!" Robert told Slare.

Slare sidestepped the Dragon Breath attack, which hit the ground and left a small smoldering crater.

"Great, Slare, now use Faint Attack!" Robert said. Slare then sprinted at a breakneck pace towards Gyarados.

"Gyarados, use Hydro Pump!" Lance said.

Gyarados launched an incredibly powerful Hydro Pump at Slare. Slare fell to the ground, and looked shaken.

"Slare, get up! Quickly!" Robert told Slare.

"Too late. Gyarados, Hyper Beam!" commanded Lance.

"Slare, dodge this one, too!" Robert said. Slare, though hindered by his wounds, narrowly escaped the Hyper Beam—by a hair's breadth.

"Great, now Gyarados must recharge!" Robert said. "Slare, Faint attack!" Again, Slare sprinted rapidly at Gyarados, and this time, Slare attacked Gyarados squarely in the forehead, KO'ing Gyarados.

"Gyarados is unable to battle. The round goes to Slare!" said the referee.

"Good job, Slare. You deserve a breather. Return!" congratulated Robert.

"Fine, then. Charizard, go!" said Lance.

"Go, Jackson!" yelled Robert.

A Marowak came out of Robert's Pokéball.

"Jackson, use Bonemerang!" cried Robert.

"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" said Lance.

Charizard began to use Flamethrower, but got hit in the head with the bone. It tried again, and this time, began to try and fry Jackson. Or not. Marowaks are Ground types. Then the Bone came back around, and hit Charizard in the back of the head. Charizard seemed dazed.

"Charizard, snap out of it and keep using Flamethrower!" ordered Lance.

"Jackson, finish it off with Bone Club!" Robert said.

"Wak!" Jackson stated as it began to Bone Club Charizard into submission.

"Charizard is unable to battle. The round goes to Jackson!"

"Well, that was easy," Robert said. "Jackson, return!"

The two trainers eyed each other for a moment, waiting for the other to choose his Pokémon.

Lance went first, saying, "Aerodactyl, go!"

Then Robert responded, "Circuit, go!"

Out of the Pokéball that Robert had just thrown, another Pokéball seemed to come out, only upside down. It was an Electrode.

"Circuit, Thunder!" said Robert.

But it missed. So…

"Aerodactyl, use Rock Slide!" said Lance.

Suddenly, an enormous rock fall came down on top of Circuit.

"Circuit, roll out of the rocks—but don't **use** Rollout!" instructed Robert.

"Trode," it acknowledged, and quickly left the rock pile.

"Aerodactyl, use Hyper Beam!" Lance said.

Aerodactyl began to accrete a golden light in front of its mouth. It then shot the blast at Circuit.

"Circuit, roll away from the Hyper Beam!" told Robert.

"Trode," it acknowledged again.

"O. K., now that Aerodactyl must recharge, use Thunder again!" said Robert.

"Elec-TRODE!" Circuit began to spark, and then outright surge with electricity. Then, suddenly, a high-voltage bolt of lightning arced from Circuit to Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl, being a Flying/Rock type, was weak to electrical attacks, but somehow, it was still in the air.

"My Aerodactyl is specially E. V. trained to have a high Special Defense, for instances just like that," comments Lance.

"Elec lec trode, e trode elec lectrode e?" -Well, I guess this guy isn't a Pokémon Master for nothing, huh?- said Circuit.

"Obviously," Robert said in response. "Anyway, Circuit, initiate battle closure plan 11!"

"Trode elec lectrode!" -This is going to be fun!- said Circuit, giddy with excitement.

"Aerodactyl, Giga Impact!" said Lance.

Aerodactyl began flying towards Circuit.

"Wait for it," Robert said.

Aerodactyl was on its way.

"Wait for it," Robert repeated

Then, just before Aerodactyl collided with Circuit, Robert ordered, "NOW!"

Circuit then used an Explosion move so powerful, that not only did it viciously rock the stadium, but also, Richter scales for miles around recorded a small seismic tremor.

"Circuit, return!" offered Robert.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle. The result of the round is a draw!"

Now Robert was very excited. He had just one more Pokémon to go against Lance, and he knew just which Pokémon he would use. He would use his best friend.

"Rex, go!" said Robert.

Out of the Pokéball appeared a Tyranitar. Even without prior knowledge or a Pokédex, one could still tell that Rex was a rare Level 100.

"Rex, it's time to shine!" Robert told his childhood friend.

"TAAAAAAAAAR!" he roared. He was rightfully confident.

"Fine, I shall use my last Pokémon," Lance said resignedly, "Dragonite, go!"

"Rex, use Rock Slide!" said Robert.

Rex's Rock Slide was nothing like Aerodactyl's Rock Slide. It seemed as if Victoria Falls had been turned to stone, and then dropped upon the Dragonite. Dragonite, being Dragon/Flying, is already weak to Rock type moves. Factor in the Level 100 vs. Level 62, and the added bonus that it was a critical hit, and it was no contest.

"Dragonite is unable to battle. Victory goes to Robert from Blackthorn City!"

Robert ran over to Rex, and hugged him tightly. They were both screaming with joy.

"We did it, Rex! I told you we'd do it!" Robert told Rex.

"Ty nitar tar rani tyrani tyran tar tyranitar tar ty! Ty tyranitar!" -I sure am glad I let you take me with you on your journey! It was worth it!- cried Tyranitar.

"Well, Robert, congratulations," said Lance.

"Will the two competitors please step up to the grandstand," the PA announcer said.

Lance, Robert, and Rex stepped up to the raised platform.

"Robert Terre," Lance said. "I crown you Pokémon Master of the Kanto Region."

Lance placed a medal around Robert's neck, and handed Robert a plaque. Then he paused, and whispered to Robert, "Aren't you going to return Rex?"

"No way. Rex has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. He deserves this award just as much as I do," protested Robert.

"Well, then," said Lance as he placed a medal around Rex's neck, as well. "You have the character of a Pokémon Master, too."

"Thank you," said Robert.

"Ty," -Thank you,- said Tyranitar. (Pun that I didn't realize existed until a full 30 seconds after I typed it not intended—yes I'm that lame)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we now have a new Pokémon Master in Kanto: Robert Terre!" Proclaimed Lance.

_Now I'm a Champion, just like my brother, Alex,_ thought Robert.

Just then, the electronic scoreboard, which showed the scores of various matches of all the Leagues, showed the score (the number of each of the opponent's Pokémon that were KO'd, and a match is over when someone scores 6. For example, the score of Robert and Lance's battle would be Robert 6, Lance 3) of the Johto Champion Challenge:

CHAMPION ALEX TERRE: 5

TRAINER ASH KETCHUM: 6

"WHAT? ALEX LOST?" Robert could not believe it. He just stared at the scoreboard, until it changed to some Hoenn League quarterfinal match.

--

DK

--

Later that night…

Robert was in the hotel room, sitting on the bed. Just sitting there, talking with Rex.

(A/N: all speech until next author's note is in Tyranitar speak. Yes, even human speech)

"Yeah, I still can't believe it. How could Alex loose?" said Robert.

"I'm more interested in the guy who beat him. He must be extremely good," remarked Rex.

"No doubt about that, but—" Robert said. "Wait, why don't I just…"

Robert began to take his clothes off. Suddenly, Robert began to change. His legs thickened and shortened, his skin turned green and scaly, spikes protruded from his back, his eyes turned red, and a short muzzle appeared on his face. Finally, a tail emerged from the bottom of his body. He was a Tyranitar.

"Ah, that's better. As I was saying, no doubt he's good, but I just think it's really weird how we won a title, and he lost one, on the same day," said Robert.

"Indeed. Why don't you call your brother?" inquired Rex.

"Great idea Rex," said Robert.

Robert walked over to the phone, picked it up with his 3-digited hand, and dialed Alex's cell phone number. After 5 rings, he got the answering machine on the phone. He hung up.

"No good," said Robert.

"Let's try again later," said Rex.

Robert tried to change the subject, for no reason at all. "Rex, ever since we've met, you've been my best friend. We've been through so much together. Like when we both evolved into Pupitar at the same time, when we were 7. Remember that?"

"Yeah," Rex answered.

"So when I asked you to join me on my journey," continued Robert. "It wasn't just because I needed a powerful Pokémon. It was because we're best friends, and I never want to be separated from you. I know you don't like being considered 'mine' by others, or being in the Pokéball, but just remember; I would **never** treat you, or any of the other guys, as anything less than equals. I can never thank you enough."

"Your welcome, Master Terre," said Rex.

"Now what did I just say?" asked Robert.

"Well, you **are** a Pokémon Master now, right?" ask-answered Rex.

"Oh, right," yawned Robert. "I got to get used to that."

"Good night, Robert."

"Good night, Rex."

The two Tyranitars then went to sleep in their respective beds, awaiting the bright new day that would come.

--

Whew! That was a long chapter! Yes, I'm aware of my own summary, thank you very much! The next chapter will focus on Ash and the gang, and then Chapter 3 is where they meet up. And as to whether Robert and Alex are Pokémon-turned-human or human-turned-Pokémon: yes. They lead lives as both, but focus at the moment on their human sides, simply for their Pokémon journeys. Prior to (and after…) that, it's pretty balanced. And yes, it's hereditary.


	2. Johto Master

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, the anime would actually be good, our old voice actors would be back, Pokémon Special would be available here in the U.S., and Ash would have beaten Ritchie and that Blaziken guy. Lousy, good-for-nothing Ritchie.

This takes place simultaneously with Chapter 1: Kanto Master.

Chapter 2: Johto Master.

It was the night before Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town was about to challenge Alex Terre, Master of the Johto region. So, he did what he sometimes did on these kinds of nights. He went to the stadium. Just to stand there, and think about the match he would face the next day.

As Ash stood there, shuffling through his thoughts, he suddenly saw an orange dragon up in the sky. He smiled.

"Hey, Charizard!" yelled Ash. "Why are you all the way out here?"

Charizard swooped down to the stadium floor, and touched down right in front of Ash.

"Charizard char zard izard char. Zard charizard," -I heard that my old friend was about to challenge a Pokémon Master. I would like to help,- said Charizard.

"Well, this is great then!" exclaimed Ash.

"Char charizard zard char," -You better get ready,- noted Charizard.

"Charizard, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I've got Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and now you. I'll be fine," said Ash.

"Charizard izard iz char," -I mean you should get some sleep,- said Charizard.

"Oh, yeah, well, you see, there are only two beds…" said Ash.

"Charizard zard?" -How's that a problem?- asked Charizard.

"I don't want Misty to get the wrong idea," said Ash.

"Zard, char charizard," -No, she'd get the right idea,- said Charizard.

"Ah, touché, but I don't want her getting that idea yet, you know?" said Ash.

"Zard," -Nope,- said Charizard.

"Well, try to," said Ash. "Anyway, you were saying we should go to bed? Well, it's pretty late; let's go to bed right now."

"Izard char charizard," -I never said 'we'- said Charizard.

"Sorry, but it's not like I can understand you perfectly. I'd have to be a Pokémon myself to accomplish that!" laughed Ash.

Charizard chuckled with him.

"Char, charizard chari," -Still, I am tired from that flight,- said Charizard.

"Hey, Charizard, guess what?" said Ash. "I've still got your old Pokéball. Return!"

Ash held out Charizard's Pokéball as a red beam of light shot from the Pokéball to Charizard, then, became a red light, and soon got absorbed into the Pokéball.

"That conversation was headed in the wrong direction anyway," noted Ash.

Ash walked back to the hotel on his own. Duh. When he got to the room, he brushed his teeth, went to the bathroom, changed into his green PJs, and slipped under the covers of the hotel bed next to Misty. Even though she was clearly asleep, Ash still said "Good night," to Misty as he went to sleep.

--

The next day…

"Ash, wake up! Your match is in a half hour!" Misty yelled at Ash. He didn't stir.

"It's not working. Pikachu, wake Ash up!" said Misty.

"Pika-CHUUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu thundershocked not just Ash, but everyone in the room.

"AAH…YOU…CAN…STOP…NOW…PIKACHU!" a now woken up Ash said.

"Ash, you overslept again! And on the **one day** when it's least convenient!" yelled Misty angrily.

"Relax, Misty, calm down," said Brock. "He's up now. Let him get ready."

"Alright," sighed Misty. _Although if it weren't such a big day for Ash, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to wake him up._

After a few minutes, Ash stepped out of the bathroom dressed in his normal clothes, and said, "Let's go get breakfast."

"Uh, Ash, the buffet closed a half hour ago," said Brock.

"But I brought you a bagel and some juice. You can eat them on the way, if you'd like," added Misty.

"Thanks, Mist. Then let's go straight to the stadium!" Ash said as he threw his fist in the air.

"Duh," said Misty.

(A/N: Why the crap is every main/titular character of an anime always so energetic and knuckleheaded? Seriously.)

--

Later, at the stadium…

"Will the challenger please step into the ring," said the referee.

Ash, being the impulsive kid that he is, was already standing in the ring. He smirked at the ludicrousness of the referee's statement. He looked across the field at Alex.

Alex was dressed in normal clothes, none of that black-cloak-and-cape stuff preferred by the other champions. He was wearing an unzipped, forest green light jacket with the hood down, over an ocean-blue T-shirt. He garbed his legs in smoke-black cargo pants, wore nothing on top of his short, gently spiky, sandy green hair, and his eyes were just as emerald green as his brothers'. He was dressed similarly to his brother, and he and his brother bore a striking physical resemblance.

Alex selected his Pokémon first. "Go, Felix!" he said.

A Magcargo appeared out of the Pokéball.

Ash knew which Pokémon he'd use.

"Go, Snorlax!" Ash said.

"Lax…" it yawned.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Felix, use Flamethrower," said Alex.

Felix opened his mouth to try and barbecue Snorlax (A/N: This "roasting Snorlax" idea belongs to Espeon Master and his fic, Tough Love. I am simply borrowing it). Unfortunately, all it succeeded in doing was leaving a burn mark on Snorlax's big fat stomach. But Snorlax did seem somewhat scathed.

"Snorlax, use Body Slam!" said Ash.

All of Snorlax's 1,014 lb. of fat came down on a frightened-looking Felix. Though Felix was crushed, and quite clearly hurt, he was still staying upright.

"Felix, hang in there; use another Flamethrower!" said Alex.

This time, Snorlax looked hurt, because Felix was using Flamethrower on the same spot as before.

"Snorlax, use Rest!" said Ash.

Snorlax just went to sleep. No change there. But also, the burns on his gut started to heal.

"Great, Snorlax. Now use Snore!" said Ash.

Snorlax then snored so loudly that Felix's eardrums burst, and started slowly oozing lava.

"Felix is unable to battle. The round goes to Snorlax!" said the referee.

"Felix, return!" Alex said worriedly. Magcargos used lava the same way people and most Pokémon used blood. Felix was clearly in terrible shape.

"Snorlax, wanna try another round?" asked Ash.

"Lax…" -yes,- said Snorlax.

"Go, Doc!" said Alex as he sent out his second Pokémon, a Dugtrio.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Snorlax, use surf!" said Ash.

Snorlax summoned a tsunami, and rode it over towards where Doc was.

"Sorry, try again," said Alex. "Doc, dig underground!"

"Trio," Doc acknowledged.

Doc dug underground before Snorlax's Surf attack hit.

"Snorlax, watch out for Doc's Dig attack!" warned Ash.

"Too, late, Ash," said Alex. "Doc, use Dig!"

Doc resurfaced just below Snorlax's groin.

"SNOOOOORLAX!!" Snorlax cried out in pain, as he clutched his wounded area.

"Snorlax, use Rest again!" said Ash.

"Doc, finish it off with Earthquake, before it goes back to sleep!" said Alex.

"TrioTrioTrio," said Doc.

Doc then created an earthquake of immense magnitude, completely KO'ing Ash's Snorlax.

"Snorlax is unable to battle. The round goes to Doc!" said the referee.

"Snorlax, return!" said Ash.

"Doc, can you handle another round?" asked Alex.

"Dugtrio trio? Dugtri trio o dug trio tri! Trio!" -Are you kidding? I don't have a scratch on me! Of course!- answered Dugtrio.

"Yeah, well, just don't get cocky," said Alex.

"Go, Muk!" said Ash.

"Muk," said Muk as it came out of its Pokéball.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Muk, use Sludge Bomb!" said Ash.

Muk gathered sludge from his body, compacted it into a ball, like a snowball, wound up his arm, and hurled the Sludge Bomb at Doc. Doc, upon being hit with the Sludge Bomb, looked as if it were some sort of purple armor. Oh, and its three faces were contorted with a mixture of pain and disgust.

"If you can't take the smell, Doc, then keep your distance from Muk. Use Magnitude!" said Alex.

"Muk, throw another Sludge Bomb at Doc!" said Ash.

Although the Magnitude attack hit a respectable Magnitude 6, Muk wasn't affected much by it. Due to his gelatinous frame, Muk was just jiggled a little bit by the tremor. So he chucked his putrid projectile of poison purposefully towards Doc. The Sludge Bomb flew straight and true, and hit Doc smack in the face. Well, one of his three faces.

"Doc, I know you're still able to fight. Go underground!" said Alex.

"Trio," he said.

"Muk, use Acid Armor, but focus it right beneath you!" said Ash.

"Muk," he acknowledged.

Then Doc resurfaced, right below Muk. Although this was not visible, one could tell, because Muk looked like a man who had just received his physical from a gay guy (A/N: I have nothing against gays). Of course, Doc didn't like it, either. After Muk moved, Doc was clearly visible and knocked out, from a combination of more things than I care to mention. Probably for the best.

"Doc is unable to battle. The round goes to Muk!" said the referee.

"Muk, you want to stay out there?" Ash asked.

"Muk!" -Yes!- he smiled.

"Doc, return," said Alex. Alex was worried. Not for himself, but for his brother, Robert. He checked the scoreboard, which was showing scores from various other Pokémon matches going on. It read:

CHAMPION LANCE WATARU: 0

TRAINER ROBERT TERRE: 2

_I guess I got nothing to worry about. He and Rex are doing just fine,_ Alex thought. He grinned. _Now there'll be two champions in the family. Still, I better be careful—this kid's got skill._

"Go, Apollo!" said Alex.

Alex threw a Pokéball out of which came an elegant-looking Skarmory.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Muk, use Sludge Bomb to weigh down Apollo's wings, since you can't do any direct damage to it," said Ash. (A/ N: Using Sludge Bomb to weigh down a Flying type's wings is another one of Espeon Master's ideas that I'm borrowing.)

Muk formed a goopy ball of grime, then threw it very quickly and on-target. The gunk not only weighed down Apollo's wings, but it also disrupted the airflow over it, negating the lift generated by her wing. Apollo was sent into a downward spiral.

"Looks like Apollo 13 to me," smirked Ash.

"Shut up. Apollo, use the downward force on your wing to your advantage, and deliver an extra-powerful Steel Wing on Muk!" instructed Alex.

Yeah… what Alex said pretty much sums it up. Except that there was also a crater 3' deep and 12' in diameter right where Muk was. Where did Muk go, you ask?

"Muk, resurface!" yelled Ash.

Muk, looking extremely weary, yet still willing to battle, shot up from the ground, latched onto Apollo and began smothering her.

"That's a new trick for a Muk," said Alex. "But Apollo, use Drill Peck." Apollo's beak then began to re-shape itself into a screw, and it began spinning and whirring. It jabbed Muk right where it hurts… wherever that is on a big, purple, pile of slime. Muk had had enough. It had Xes for eyes.

"Muk is unable to battle. The round goes to Apollo!" said the referee.

"How'd you know where to strike him, Apollo?" inquired Alex.

"Skar, skarmory ry. Mor skarmory ry skar," -Actually, I had no clue. I just got lucky,- answered Apollo.

"Well, if it works," commented Alex. "Wanna go again?"

"Ry," -yes,- she replied.

"Just checking," said Alex. "Ash, choose your next Pokémon."

"Go, Heracross!" said Ash.

As soon as Heracross cam out of its Pokéball, it immediately began looking around for trees to suck sap out of, or better yet, Bulbasaur. Seeing none, it returned to the field.

"Heracross…" Ash sighed.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Apollo, use Drill Peck!" said Alex.

Again, Apollo's beak became screw-shaped, and span and whirred like a drill. It flew rapidly towards Ash's Heracross.

"Heracross, use Double Team!" said Ash. But Heracross was already lying on the ground, KO'd. Ash was dumbfounded.

"Heracross is unable to battle. Apollo wins the round!" said the referee.

"Wait, what just happened, Alex?" Ash asked.

"Apollo was holding a Quick Claw, so she attacked before Heracross could pull of Double Team. Additionally, because of STAB & Heracross being a Bug/Fighting type, Drill Peck did x6 damage, or 480," responded Alex.

"Oh, well. Bayleef, go!" said Ash.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Bayleef, use—"

"Apollo, Drill Peck," said Alex calmly, as he flipped the page in his book, _Xenocide_.

Once again, Apollo's beak turned into a drill, and it shredded Bayleef to ribbons. No, not really. But Bayleef was bleeding all over. She looked at Ash longingly.

"Bayleef, return," sighed Ash. _I have to do something, and quickly! I'm down 4-2, and Alex over there is reading _Xenocide_! Hmm…_ Thought Ash.

"Charizard, go!" said Ash.

Ash threw Charizard's Pokéball, and Charizard came out, pumped up and ready to redeem himself for his poor behavior in the Kanto League.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"O.K., this will be interesting. What's going to happen to Jane, I wonder… Oh, right, the match," said Alex as he put _Xenocide_ down. "Apollo, use Steel Wing!"

"Charizard, dodge it, then use flamethrower!" said Ash.

Charizard whipped out his laptop, logged onto his account, and started sending flaming reviews to people.

"Charizard, not that kind of flame!" said Ash.

"Chari," -Sorry,- said Charizard.

Charizard immediately put the laptop away and breathed a powerful, **real** flamethrower. Apollo, being a Steel type, and weak from its previous battles, especially the battle with Muk, went down quickly.

"Apollo is unable to battle. The round goes to Charizard!" said the referee.

"Well, then, I'll just have to let Balboa battle. Go, Balboa!" said Alex.

When the Pokéball opened, it seemed as if the whole stadium had been completely enshrouded in the white light that surrounds a Pokémon when one comes out of its Pokéball. Balboa was a Steelix.

"Balboa, use Stone Edge," said Alex.

Razor-sharp shards of rock shot up from the ground, heading towards Charizard. But they missed, because Stone Edge isn't known for its accuracy.

"Shit," swore Alex.

"Charizard, use Flamethrower again!" said Ash.

Balboa, unable to dodge due to its size and lack of speed, caught the full brunt of the blast. Its features simultaneously glowed, burned, and melted.

"Balboa, fight back and use Iron Tail!" said Alex.

Balboa's tail suddenly started to glow an ivory white. Balboa swung his tail around, knocking Charizard right in the face, but fortunately not his wings, so he stayed airborne.

"Charizard, now use Overheat!" said Ash.

Charizard's tail flame started to grow bigger. Charizard's "inner fire", too, seemed to burn more fuel. Finally, Charizard opened his mouth, and let loose a blazing inferno upon Balboa. Balboa collapsed under the extreme heat.

"Balboa is unable to battle. The round goes to Charizard!" said the referee.

"Chaaaaaaaar!" Charizard roared triumphantly.

"O.K., I'm guessing you want to go again, huh, Charizard?" asked Ash.

"Char," -Duh,- said Charizard.

"Stryker, go!" said Alex.

When the Pokéball opened up, Stryker, a Rhydon, came out.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Stryker, use Iron Tail!" said Alex.

Stryker's tail began to glow the same ivory white that Balboa's had. Stryker charged at Charizard like a true Rhydon; aggressively and powerfully. He slammed his tail into Charizard's side, and Charizard let out a groan of pain.

"Charizard, hang in there!" said Ash. "Use Steel Wing!"

Now it was Charizard's turn. Charizard flew up into the air, then stopped, and his right wing suddenly began to pulse a shiny white. Charizard soon flew back down to where Stryker was standing at an incredible speed, and yelled out, "Chaaaaar!"

Upon impact, there was a distinct slashing sound, and a large cloud of dirt that flew up from the stadium floor. Charizard quickly emerged, flying from the puff of dust to a safe distance. When the dust settled, Stryker was lying on the ground with a large gash across his back—but he was definitely not unconscious.

"Rhy…" Stryker groaned.

"Stryker, use Hyper Beam!" said Alex, sounding desperate.

"Charizard, dodge it and use Seismic Toss!" said Ash.

While Stryker charged up energy, and then fired the golden beam of light from his horn, Charizard swooped down towards Stryker, juking left and right to avoid the Hyper Beam. Soon, Stryker had exhausted himself, and then, unable to do anything, Stryker was picked up by Charizard. Charizard, carrying, Stryker, flew into the air high above the stadium, and began to fly in vertical loops. Charizard flew faster and faster, until an image of the Earth was somehow visible in the loop's hole (A/N: Don't ask me how that worked—I could never figure it out). Charizard suddenly threw Stryker down to the stadium with the speed of a rocket. Stryker hit the ground like a merteorite, creating another cloud of dust. When the dust cleard, a large crater was visible, with Stryker, unconscious, at the center of it.

"Stryker is unable to battle. The round goes to Charizard!" said the referee.

"Stryker, return!" said Alex. He was admittedly concerned now, and for himself this time. _I'm down 5-4, and Charizard's on a winning streak. Granted, he probably can't hold up much longer, but he can still do enough damage for Ash to put the match away with Pikachu. He may not know it, but that Pikachu is level 100_ (A/N: **Red**'s Pikachu is level 81. I'm assuming that since Ash uses Pikachu more than Red uses Pika, Pikachu would be at a higher level). Alex was not as dense as Ash. He actually noticed stuff and put one and one together, like seeing Pikachu at Ash's side.

"Charizard, you seem pretty beat up, after 3 battles and all. Wanna take a break?" asked Ash.

"Zard! Char charizard zard chari char zard!" -No! Battle time is not nap time!- said Charizard.

"Oh, sweet irony," said Ash.

"Chari, izard char charizard iz izard, char?" -Look, I'm sorry about that, O.K.?- asked Charizard.

"Fine," said Ash. "Oh, and Alex, you're down to one last Pokémon!"

"I know, I know! I'm the Master here!" said Alex angrily.

"Not for long," remarked Ash.

"You wish," said Alex.

Like Robert, Alex brought his best friend, Quake, with him when he started his Pokémon journey, all of 17 years ago. Except that Alex started before Robert and Rex were even born, so it would have been Robert who would have done it like Alex. Quake and Alex had first met as Larvitars when they were very little. They played together, they trained together, and they grew up together. Together, they had remained the Johto champion for 10 years. _Nothing against Ash,_ thought Alex, _But I'm not ready to lose just yet._

"Go, Quake!" yelled Alex.

As Quake was released from his Pokéball, he gave out an aggressive roar. Quake deserved to; he was a Level 100.

"TAAAAAAAAR!"

--

Meanwhile, up in the nosebleed seats…

Two people, a man and a woman, in dark clothing were hiding in the shadows. It was impossible to see their faces, or what was on their clothing—not even the mustard stain that one of them had left over from lunch.

"Is he the one?" asked the man, indicating Quake.

"No, it's the trainer," answered the woman.

"The trainer?" asked the man again.

"Yes, you heard me. The trainer," said the woman.

"Whatever you say," said the man.

--

Back at the field…

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Let's get this over with quickly. Quake, use Rock Slide!" said Alex.

Quake summoned a rockfall of immense proportions. It spanned the entire stadium—but Quake was careful to avoid letting even a grain of sand fall into the crowd. They all collapsed down on Charizard, knocking him out of the sky, and breaking a few of his bones. Charizard passed out from the pain, and the extensive damage to his body.

"Charizard is unable to battle. The round goes to Quake!" said the referee.

"TyRAAAAAAANitar!" Quake yelled victoriously.

"Charizard, return!" said Ash.

This was it. This was what it all came down to. Both of the trainers were down to their last Pokémon. Everything that had happened in the battle had all been leading up to this. The previous rounds were nothing more than a prelude, with the real battle being the final round. The two trainers stared each other in the eyes; they knew they were perhaps the most evenly matched trainers ever to face each other in a championship match. Yes, even more than last year's AFC Championship. They knew that whoever lost, it would be because it had to be one of them, not because either one was necessarily better than the other.

"Pikachu, go!" commanded Ash.

Pikachu darted from the trainer's box to the field on all fours, its cheeks bursting with electrical sparks.

"Begin!" said the referee.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" said Ash.

Pikachu shot forward towards Quake, and struck Quake in his sky-blue stomach. A bruise appeared, but nothing more.

"You're going to have to use more powerful attacks than that if you want to defeat me, Ash," said Alex. "Quake, Earthquake!"

The ground suddenly shook with such great force that a few small cracks began to form in the stadium's structure. One poor soul lost her lunch. Pikachu was tossed around by the shaking, and became covered with sores.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" said Ash.

Pikachu's cheeks charged up electricity, then released the energy in a bolt of blitz that arced straight to Quake. Quake was shocked, but only literally, and was able to shake it off—though it did leave a few burns on his rough hide.

"As I was saying, you're going to need more powerful attacks," repeated Alex. "Quake, use Crunch!"

Quake ran at Pikachu, and as he did so, he barred his teeth, and they seemed to suck up the light from the surrounding air. Pikachu didn't look worried though—this was an incredibly important battle. Quake clamped his jaws down on Pikachu's right side, and Pikachu cried out in pain. Quake then backed away, to safety. One could see that Pikachu had some bleeding bite marks on his side from that devastating Crunch attack.

"Pikachu, Thunder!" cried Ash.

Pikachu's cheeks again surged with electrical power, and this time, it was released up into the air above the stadium, then it moved in an arched path back down to where Quake was standing. There was a flash of light, and Quake still stood, but he was covered in wounds, and low in HP. But, remember, so was Pikachu. Evenly matched, indeed.

"Quake, use Stone Edge!" cried Alex desperately.

"Pikachu, dodge them and use Iron Tail!" said Ash.

Pikachu dodged the stone razor blades easily, and sprinted towards Quake. Then, with his tail glowing, Pikachu leapt into the air and slammed his tail into Quake, who collapsed.

"Quake is unable to battle. Victory goes to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" said the referee.

"We did it!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs as he posed a peace sign.

"Pi-ka!" mimicked Pikachu, including the pose.

While Ash and Pikachu were dancing together in a scene of pure ecstasy, Alex was glancing up at the scoreboard that showed other matches' scores, which read:

CHAMPION LANCE WATARU: 3

TRAINER ROBERT TERRE: 6

Alex, though thoroughly disappointed at having lost, was still very happy for his brother. After all, they were family.

"Will the two trainers please step up to the raised platform for the crowning of the new champion," said the PA speaker.

Alex and Ash assumed positions on the platform, facing each other. An attendant, wearing formal clothing, handed a medal to Alex, who held it above Ash's head. _Never figured I'd be at this end of this ceremony,_ thought Alex.

"Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, I crown you Pokémon Master and Champion of the Johto region," said Alex as he brought the medal down on Ash's shoulders. He also handed Ash a large trophy, that 3-tiered kind, made of a mixture of marble and gold, and inlaid with silver and gemstones styled like pokéballs, with one large pokéball at the top.

The crowd cheered. They knew that they had witnessed history.

"Thank you," Ash said.

Following that, the stadium emptied, as people went home to their families. But Ash and Alex stayed. They hadn't even moved, remaining in a pensive stasis. They were silent for the longest time, until one of them spoke up.

"I heard your brother beat Lance. Congratulations. I couldn't even get past the tournament in Kanto," said Ash.

"Still, it's a bizarre coincidence that I lost to you and Robert beat Lance on the same day," noted Alex.

"So what are you going to do, now that you're not a Champion anymore?" asked Ash.

"Oh, I've got some things that I need to take care of," said Alex. "But the first chance I get, I'm going to try and win my title back from you."

"Good luck," said Ash. "You're gonna need it."

"Well, I'll catch you later," said Alex as he left the stadium.

"Yeah, see ya," replied Ash, who remained.

"Charizard, go!" said Ash.

Charizard came out of his Pokéball.

"Charizard, the battle's over. You can either go back to Charific Valley, or stay here with me," offered Ash.

"Iz char charizard izard char, charizard char charizard," -I would never leave your side now, not when you've become a Pokémon Master,- said Charizard.

Ash was bursting with joy, but somehow restrained himself to a wide grin and saying, "Thank you so much, Charizard. Return."

Ash walked back to the hotel again.

--

Later that evening…

Ash was back at the hotel, partying in the lobby. It had been hastily prepared by the hotel manager, upon learning that one of his clients had just won the Johto League. There were Pokéball and Masterball balloons, snack tables, games, and confetti on the floor. There was music playing, and a hand-made banner, made with old but clean bedsheets and paint, that read "Congratulations, Ash!"

Ash was at one of the snack tables, treating the serving dishes as his own plates. There were a few disgusted looks from guests, but no one said anything. Ash sort of had a right to gorge himself in such a manner, because the party was being thrown on his behalf. He was making his way to the desserts table when Misty came by.

"You know, you really shouldn't eat so much," said Misty. "Honestly, I don't know how you've remained so skinny."

"But I just became a Pokémon Master and Johto Champion! I deserve to celebrate!" commented Ash as he filled his plate with brownies.

"You call that celebrating?" said Misty. "Why not do something a bit more festive?"

"Because I'm hungry now," said Ash.

"Fine, if you want to blow your big night eating yourself to death, go ahead," said Misty.

Brock walked over and said, "Why don't you two dance? You know, just as friends."

"Sure, anything to keep Ash away from the food," said Misty. _But thanks, Brock. I've been waiting for an excuse to do something romantic with Ash. I just hope he feels the same way._

"Why not. It's something to do, huh?" said Ash. _Score! Now's my chance to see how she really feels about me._

But for that reason that no one can seem to figure out, Ash said, "Wait, Brock, why can't **you** dance with Misty?"

Misty sighed.

"Uh, because, uh, well, you see…" Brock had been caught off guard. "I—I've got other stuff to do." Brock quickly started flirting with the first hot girl he saw.

"That's Brock for ya," said Misty, yet she made no attempt to pull Brock away.

Ash went over to the DJ and requested a certain song. The DJ OK'd him, and popped the CD in right away, a Master's request taking precedence.

"Care to dance?" Ash asked in a parody of the tradition. He stretched out his hand.

Misty simply giggled softly, and took his hand. The scene looked rather out of place, as they were in their usual casual clothes as opposed to formal wear, but it had that romantic feel to it. As they danced and swayed to the music, they were silent, and thoughts raced through each of their minds.

_He's silent. That could mean any number of things,_ thought Misty.

_Is that a smile on her face? Yes, that's definitely a smile. That's good,_ thought Ash.

"Hey, Ash. Thanks for letting me follow you on your journey," said Misty, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean? You just wanted me to repay you for breaking your bike, and at first I frequently tried to lose you," said Ash.

"Oh, please. That bike was barely worth 115 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Poké. I could have easily worked up the money to buy another one soon enough," said Misty. _Oh, gosh, I've trapped myself! What if he doesn't think that way about me?_

Ash looked into Misty's eyes, and he knew what he saw there. _She really does feel that way about me; she's just too scared to admit it. Guess I'll have to go first,_ he thought.

"Misty, I love you," said Ash.

"Oh, Ash, I love you, too!" breathed Misty.

They kissed each other.

_Victory! She does love me!_ Thought Ash.

_Finally, I can stop living with the worry that he didn't!_ Thought Misty.

"Misty, I want to thank you, too. The whole time we've been together you've **never left** my side. If you left, you would be **irreplaceable**," said Ash.

"You're so sweet, Ash," said Misty.

Brock had taken a break from chasing girls to watch the scene unfold before him.

"It was the best way to get them to admit it to each other," Brock said to himself. "Ash has no idea how lucky he is."

Brock then resumed his usual activities. Ash and Misty, however, played another song, and danced to that one, too. Now that they had confessed their love to each other, they were much more at ease and relaxed. They were also having such a good time dancing that not once did Ash try to sneak off to the food, even after the waiters and waitresses brought out new dishes on the dessert table. Misty was more important to him than food.

As the evening died down, people began to file back to their rooms, or go do other things. Brock, for example, went to the room to change into his swimsuit, so that he could go to the pool. Soon, Ash and Misty were the only 2 people left in the lobby. Since they weren't doing anything in particular that couldn't also be done in the comfort of their own room (Which the hotel manager had upgraded to the Master's Suite), they went back there.

When they got there, they each sat down on one bed, and faced each other. Again, they were silent for a few moments. But unlike before, it was not one of those awkward silences; rather, it was that kind of romantic silence that neither one of them wanted to break.

Finally, Ash said, "This was already the best day of my life so far. I want to thank you for making it the best day of my life ever."

"What about wedding days? Those are supposed to be really happy," said Misty.

"Uh, yeah, but I mean aside from that," Ash stammered. "Besides, I wasn't really thinking that far ahead."

"Oh," sighed Misty.

"But I've been wrong before," he said.

"Now that's true," Misty joked.

"Yeah. Wait—dang it!" Ash said, realizing the meaning of what Misty had just said.

Misty laughed.

"You're a little dense, but that's OK, Ash. Nobody's perfect," reassured Misty. "But even if there were someone who was perfect, I'd still love you even more."

"Somehow I doubt that," Ash said.

"But it's true," Misty said.

"Really?" asked Ash.

"Really," confirmed Misty.

"I love you, Misty," said Ash.

"I love you, too," mirrored Misty.

They leaned in to kiss again. Just at that moment, the door started clicking, and Brock walked in, still wearing his swimsuit and carrying a towel.

"Looks like I picked a bad time. I'll just come back later," said an embarrassed Brock.

"Brock, I would probably be doing every other girl in this hotel a favor by excusing you, and making you come in here anyway," said Misty.

"And are you?" asked Brock.

"Yes," said Misty.

Brock's radar suddenly picked up a Class-VI target approximately 65 yards down the hall. He darted in her direction.

"Brock, get your ass back in here, NOW!" yelled Misty.

Brock stayed with the girl, until she slapped him across the face 3 times. But Brock moved on to another girl right away.

"Honestly, he's hopeless," complained Misty. "Now, Ash, where were we?"

"Sorry, Misty, I'm really exhausted right now. You know the kind of day I've had. Mind if I just go to bed right now?" asked Ash.

"Fine," Misty said, disappointed.

"I'm sorry, but…" Ash was already dozing off. "Whoop, I almost fell asleep right there. See what I mean? I can barely function."

"Yeah," Misty agreed.

Ash went through his normal nighttime procedure, then barely made it to the bed before he fell asleep. Misty, figuring she had nothing to stay up for, and was kind of tired herself, did the same. Like the night before, they slept in the same bed, though Misty could have slept on the pullout couch (A/N: see A/N 1 at the bottom of the page).

--

The next day…

Brock woke up earlier then the other two lovebirds. He went to the door to get the newspaper, and then go down to the lobby to get some breakfast. _Wonder what the article about Ash will be like_, he thought.

But when he picked up the paper, though he did see a headline heralding the crowning of a new champion, it was below a larger headline that read:

FMR. JOHTO CHAMP ALEX TERRE MISSING

Brock hurriedly woke up Ash and Misty.

"Guys, you gotta see the paper," said Brock.

Misty yawned and was rubbing her eyes as she said, "Seriously, Brock. You're denser than Ash. We both now that Ash won." Then she saw the actual headline. She was shocked. She woke up Ash, who had a similar reaction.

"This is terrible! We have to find out what happened!" said Ash.

"You seem to be forgetting that you're a Pokémon Master, Ash," said Misty.

"No, Misty, I remember well enough. It is a Master's obligation to maintain a sense of peace. Like Lance used to do," said Ash.

"Well, then, let's go!" said Brock.

"It'll be a whole new adventure," said Misty.

--

Later that day, in town…

"HEY! YOU! You're the guy who beat Alex!" a voice called.

Ash, Misty and Brock turned around. They saw a boy who looked just like Alex, only Ash's age, running towards them.

"And who are you?" asked Ash.

"Kanto Champion Robert Terre, and I need to talk with you."

--

A/N 1: They slept in the same bed, and _nothing more_—they're **fifteen** years old for the Force's sake! Anyone who thinks what I know you're thinking is a pervert! I don't mind fics about them being old enough for it to be appropriate, and in fact I'm ordinarily against negating lime. But not when the involved people are still kids!

On to business. This chapter took all week for me to write, and I really am glad that I could pull of an update before this weekend. Why? I'll explain. I'm **from** Wisconsin, so that's where all my family is. But I **live** in New York—specifically, a suburb of Rochester. That's about 80 miles east of Buffalo. The reason my profile page says east of Buffalo instead of Rochester is because I'm assuming that no one has ever heard of Rochester, NY. I'd only heard of Rochester, Minnesota before I moved here. The only time I've ever been to the City was when I passed through JFK for a few hours when I was four. I've never been to the actual city. What does all this mean? I'll be staying with my grandparents for 8 days, and not only do they not have internet, they don't even have a computer! The closest thing they have is one of my NESes that I left at there house once. So don't expect any updates for about a fortnight (2 weeks). But there's a guaranteed minimum of 10 days, because that's when I'll be off the road and back on the computer.


	3. The Two Masters Meet

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, the anime would actually be good, our old voice actors would be back, Pokémon Special would be available in the U.S., all the Pokémon-related ships on my profile page would be canon, and Dawn would never have existed.

Chapter 3: The Two Masters Meet.

"HEY! YOU! You're the guy who beat Alex!" a voice called.

Ash, Misty and Brock turned around. They saw a boy who looked just like Alex, only Ash's age, running towards them.

"And who are you?" asked Ash.

"Kanto Champion Robert Terre, and I need to talk with you."

"So what do we need to talk about?" asked Ash.

"Master stuff. Alone," said Robert. "We should probably go back to your hotel room."

"Well, O.K." said Ash.

They walked the streets back to the hotel. Along the way, they attracted looks from people, and comments like, "Congratulations," and, "You battle really well," and stuff like that.

When they got back to the room, Robert held his hand out to Brock and Misty, and said, "When I said Master stuff, I meant Masters only. No offense, but I need to talk to Ash privately on this one." Pikachu bounded up onto Ash's shoulder. "But Pikachu can come."

"No way. We've been Ash's friends for years. Wherever he goes, we go," said Misty.

"Like I said," said Robert. "It's nothing against you. It just has to be private. Sorry."

Robert, Ash, and Pikachu walked into the room, and closed the door before Brock and Misty could get in. They tried their keycards, but Robert had deadbolted the door. They were locked out.

"What a jerk," said Misty.

"I'll bet he's bluffing. He hasn't been a Master any longer than Ash has—one day. He's got to be up to something," Brock said.

"But what could he want with Ash?" wondered Misty.

"I honestly don't know," said Brock.

--

In the hotel room…

"O.K., what's so important that we had to lock Misty and Brock out?" asked Ash.

"Pika, kachu?" -yeah, what?- mirrored Pikachu.

"What do you know about what happened to my brother?" Robert asked angrily.

"Just what was in the newspaper—that his house was ransacked last night, and they couldn't find him anywhere," said Ash.

"Oh," said Robert. He was disappointed. "I was hoping that since you beat him and are the new regional Champion, you'd know more than that."

"Great, now that we're done with that, can we let Misty and Brock back in?" asked Ash.

"No—that was just the first thing on the agenda. We have a lot more to discuss," said Robert.

"Like?" asked Ash.

"Like how you beat Alex," said Robert. "No one's ever beat him in an official match."

"What about unofficial matches?" asked Ash.

"He lost to Dad sometimes, back before he was the Champion," Robert said. "When I was really young."

"Well, it was fair, if that's what you're getting at. I wouldn't dare cheat, **especially** in a League match. Besides, I don't know how you can cheat without it being blindingly obvious. Drugs like Zinc and Carbos are legal, so the only way to cheat would be to rig the arena, and the media would have been all over that. I promise, I didn't cheat against your brother," said Ash.

"Hmm… I suppose you're right. But tell me how the battle went. I want to know exactly what happened—exactly where Alex went wrong," said Robert.

"O.K., well, you better sit down, 'cause it was a long battle," said Ash. "It went something like this…"

Ash began to describe the battle in distinct detail, complete with representative hand motions. Pikachu tried to help out a little, too. Robert had a look of total comprehension on his face. He knew his brother's battling style, and he knew that Ash was telling the truth. For example, he recognized his brother's cockiness in the middle of the battle. He could just see the whole battle in his mind. He nodded a few times, but most of the time he just sat there and listened to Ash.

Finally, Ash finished, and Robert said, "You really are a Master, Ash. Trust me, Alex was battling at his absolute best. He didn't make any mistakes in that battle, and though he was reading that book when Apollo was out there, he took that battle very seriously. Look, he just does that kind of stuff to intimidate you—and also possibly because _Xenocide_ is such a good book, but that's beside the point.

"What really intrigues me is that you made a few blunders that should have cost you the match. For example, as soon as Alex sent out Apollo, you should have immediately recalled Muk and let Pikachu battle—"

"Pika," -yeah,- Pikachu interrupted.

"Now don't you start," said Ash.

"Pika," -fine,- said Pikachu, as he went to the kitchenette for some ketchup.

"As I was saying," said Robert. "You should have immediately recalled Muk and let Pikachu battle. I really can't figure out why on Earth you used Heracross and Bayleef. Among other mistakes, that was really stupid. But somehow you won. The only explanation that I can find is that you must train your Pokémon really well. Like I said before, you're a very great trainer, Ash."

Ash sat there and took it all in. Then he asked, "I heard about your battle on TV. Are you an Ice type trainer?"

"Huh? No, not really. There are a couple of reasons for why half my team was Ice type. First off, I'm from Blackthorn City," said Robert as he indicated his hat. "Growing up there, I played in the Ice Path a lot. In fact, it was just a few blocks away from my house. It's where I met Slare and Mariemaia." _More specifically, I met them as a Larvitar, and played with them as such. Like Rex, they were my friends since I was really young._

"That still doesn't explain Red October," noted Ash.

"Oh, yeah, well, I met him when I was collecting gym badges in Kanto," said Robert. "Plus I needed some Ice types if I was going to take on a Dragon type Master."

The two trainers continued talking about miscellaneous trainer stuff for a little while, until Ash said, "Robert, I want to help you find your brother."

"Thanks, Ash, but I have to do this alone," said Robert.

"That's ridiculous. You can't travel all over the place by yourself. You need company. Besides, I was going to look for him myself anyway—it's a Master's duty, remember?" said Ash.

Robert thought about it for a while. _If I let him come with me, he'd figure out my secret, or I would have to tell him. But it would certainly be safer, traveling in a group of four. And more convenient—I wouldn't have to do everything myself. But do I really want him know? He probably won't be able to find out anything about what happened to Alex without knowing—I'm sure that's why whoever did it did what they did—and it is a Master's duty to keep the peace. I guess I don't have much of a choice._

"Well… O.K. But if you're gonna travel with me, there's something you should know," said Robert.

"What?" asked Ash.

"Just watch," said Robert.

Robert began taking off his clothes, and Ash said, "Oh, crap, no! Put your freaking clothes back on!"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot. I'll just go in the bathroom," said Robert, as he was beginning to unzip his pants.

Robert went into the bathroom. He closed the door, but did not lock it, in case Ash was curious. At this point, he wanted Ash to know. After taking of his clothes, he closed his eyes and focused. He began to change back into a Tyranitar. His legs shortened, and more than tripled in diameter. His toes turned into three claws, as did his fingers. His whole frame thickened and his neck disappeared into his chest, on which four triangular holes appeared, revealing a black skin underneath. His outer skin became coarse and dry, and sandy green scales formed from it. His hair merged with itself to form three swept back spikes on his head. About ten or so large spikes protruded from his back. His spine began to lengthen, and eventually a thick tail ripped forth from his butt. Near the end of the tail, the outer skin was ripped open as the tail continued to lengthen. On his stomach, a sky-blue diamond appeared. Finally, he opened his eyes, which were now a vibrant red. Then he walked out of the bathroom.

"Oh, you must be Rex, Robert's Tyranitar. But I didn't hear a Pokéball open, and where's Robert?" asked Ash.

Robert rolled his eyes and groaned.

Ash went to look for Robert in the bathroom. Then Ash realized that, though Robert's clothes were in the bathroom, Robert was not.

Ash was scared. "No, now Robert's gone, too," he muttered to himself.

Robert couldn't believe that Ash was so dense. He went to the towel rack, wrapped one around his waist, and changed back into a human right before Ash's eyes.

"O.K., now I'm even more confused," Ash admitted to Robert.

"Sorry, I guess I should explain," said Robert.

"Please," encouraged Ash.

"Now do you understand why I undressed?" asked Robert.

"That's the one thing I do understand," Ash answered. "But please tell me why the crap you can turn into a Tyranitar."

"Well, now it's your turn to sit down, 'cause this is gonna be a long story, too," said Robert.

They left the bathroom and sat down on one of the beds. Pikachu, who had finished all the ketchup in the kitchenette, jumped onto Ash's shoulder.

"I come from a very long and old line of Larvitar morphs," said Robert.

"But you're—" Ash began to ask, before he was cut off.

"Yeah, but we can evolve. And we pretty much always do," said Robert.

"So then Alex—" Ash was cut off again.

"Duh, Alex is, too. What did you expect? I mean, we're brothers," said Robert.

"Why can you turn into a Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"Well, first of all, I'm not just a human who happens to be able to morph into a Tyranitar. I **am** a Tyranitar, as much as I am a human," said Robert.

"Just answer my question!" Ash said frustratedly.

"Alright, here goes," Robert began.

"A very long time ago, when the world was young, humans and Pokémon were bitter enemies. They were rivals for dominance as the intelligent life on Earth. Gradually, humans started to win out, constructing cities and towns. But the Pokémon still despised the humans, and would terrorize them frequently. There was an endless war between the two.

"This was not what the creator, Arceus, had wanted when he had mew create animate life. Arceus was displeased. No, more than that. Arceus was sad.

"Arceus ordered some of his Legends to try and end the conflict in any way that they could. Darkrai told humans and Pokémon in their dreams to cut it out—humans were appalled by this idea, considering those dreams to be nightmares, so that's where that idea came from—but that didn't work. Groudon and Kyogre actually worked together for once to give natural disasters to particularly nasty areas, but that failed. Ho-oh simply used the threat of burning to ashes any society from either side that didn't play nice with the other side. But that didn't work either—though not for lack of trying, the burnt tower is proof of that. Shaymin tried making a plant that released a spore that, when inhaled, made you non-aggressive. But even that failed, because Fire type Pokémon would burn the plants. The Dogs, Suicune, Raikou and Entei, acted as general peacemakers and negotiators. They failed miserably. The Birds, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, followed a similar plan to Groudon and Kyogre's. They failed, too.

"But Mew—Mew created the Messengers. That's me. But Mew didn't just make my family; Mew also created a line of Bagons, they're in Hoenn, a line of Gibles, they're in Shin'ou, and a line of Dratinis. Lance is the latest in that line, by the way. The Messengers were both human and Pokémon. This worked like a charm. Of course, the shift to peace didn't happen overnight. It was a long process, which was overseen by the Messengers. Finally, humans and Pokémon put aside their differences and lived together in harmony.

"Today, we're just here to keep the peace. Lance does his job the best, and he easily fulfills what little need there is for peacekeeping. But other than that, we lead normal lives as humans and as Pokémon," Robert finished his tale.

"Any perks?" Ash asked.

"What do you mean?" Robert asked in turn.

"Like, can you do anything in addition to the whole morphing thing?" Ash asked.

"Well, nothing really, except that I'm fluent in Pokéspeak," said Robert.

"Cool," Ash said calmly. "Now can we please let Misty and Brock back in?"

"Pi!" -yeah!- agreed Pikachu.

"Oops! I totally forgot about them! Sure we can let them back in," said Robert.

"Finally," breathed Ash.

Ash went to the door, but when he opened it, no one was there. But there was a note taped to the doorknob. I read:

_Ash,_

_Brock and I have gone out for a little while. If you need us, we'll be at the mall._

_Love,_

_Misty_

Ash was worried until he read the second sentence. _Poor Brock_, he thought.

"Let's go get them," Ash suggested to Robert.

"Sure," he agreed.

--

That night, in the hotel room…

"Sorry for locking you guys out," Robert apologized.

"It's O.K. After we had a better chance to get to know you at that German restaurant, we've realized that you're actually a really nice kid," said Misty.

"Thanks," said Robert.

"So should I even bother asking what you two were taking about while we were out?" asked Brock.

Robert looked at Ash, and Ash looked at Robert.

"You wanna show 'em?" Ash asked.

"Yeah," said Robert.

"Uh, guys, you should probably look away," said Ash as he covered his eyes.

"Why? Oh, Robert, you are NOT getting naked in our hotel room!" Misty said.

"Calm down. You'll see…or rather, you won't," Ash said.

"Robert started to, once again, change into his Tyranitar form. Then he went into the bathroom to get another towel, and changed back into human form.

Misty and Brock's eyes widened, and their mouths hung open.

"How—" they said in unison.

"Yeah, it's a long story," said Robert. "Let me explain."

So Robert repeated to them what he told Ash.

"Wow," said Misty.

"Unbelievable," agreed Brock.

"Oh, by the way, guys," Ash said. "Robert agreed to let us travel with him to help him find his brother."

"So that's why you're letting us know that you can morph into a Tyranitar?" Brock asked.

"Yes," said Robert. "But first, let me establish, again, that I am a Tyranitar, just as much as I'm a human."

"Fine," said Misty.

"But wait," said Brock. "Shouldn't there be a lot of you guys, with all the time that your family has had to branch out?"

"Theoretically, yes," said Robert. "But if you mate as a Pokémon—which is the better option, trust me—the children are just ordinary Pokémon. To have children who are Messengers, one has to mate with a human. There always has to be someone from each generation who has to keep the line alive."

"Do you have to be in human form?" asked a genuinely curious Brock.

"You are a sick and twisted individual," commented Robert. "How else would it work?"

"Trust me, you don't know the half of it," said Misty.

"Say, it's getting late. We should all get some rest before we set out tomorrow," said Brock, eager to change the subject.

"Alright," said Ash.

"Fine," said Robert.

"Sure," said Misty.

They all went through their usual bedtime routines, and went to bed. Ash, Misty, and Brock were soon asleep, but Robert was lost in thought. He couldn't sleep, so he just stared at the ceiling.

_I wonder what happened to Alex. I know that this is why it happened, and they did it now hoping that it would be drowned out by the news of two new Champions. Obviously, their plan didn't work that well, but they clearly thought this one through very thoroughly. But more importantly, who would want to take him? We don't even exist in myth, and our secret is very well kept. In fact, I just broke about every rule in the book—if there were one—by revealing myself to the guys, and no one else is as bad as secret keeping as me. I know that I can trust them, and they need to know it to help find Alex. But the fact remains. Ah, I can trust 'em; they won't let anyone know. I just hope that we can find Alex,_ he thought.

On that note, Robert, too, fell asleep.

--

I'm back from the land of the dead.

Congratulations, loyal readers! You got lucky! I'm posting this from the school library. But that's it for author's notes—the late bus is gonna leave soon, and I gotta go. See ya!

O.K., to those intelligent few who have read _Xenocide_, you'll understand completely. To those who haven't, get to your nearest library and read the freaking book. Though I suggest reading _Ender's Game_ and _Speaker for the Dead_ first, in that order.


	4. Enemy Revealed

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, Pokéshipping, Contestshipping, and Rocketshipping would be openly canon (I emphasize openly), the dub editing wouldn't be so crappy, the anime would actually be good, and Ash would have kept that Larvitar he had in Master Quest (Seriously—I had such high hopes when he had it; why the crap did they have to take it away?).

--

Chapter 4: Enemy Revealed

A dew day had arrived, and the group was waking up.

"Whoa, I had the weirdest dream," yawned Misty. "I dreamt that Robert was a Tyranitar morph."

"Wow, me, too," said Brock as he rubbed his eyes.

"Guys, I hate to break it to you, but that wasn't a dream," said Robert, who was already awake and dressed.

"Oh, yeah," said Misty.

"Oh, right," said Brock.

They shrugged it off. They had passed the "utterly shocked" phase the previous night.

"Where's Ash?" asked Robert.

"He's still sleeping. Honestly, it's like he has bipolar disorder, with his sleep clock all screwed up like that," said Misty.

"Should I wake him up?" Robert asked.

"You can try," said Brock.

Robert walked over to Ash's bed, where Pikachu was also sleeping, and yelled, "_WAKE UP! WE HAVE TO GO!_"

Pikachu was so startled that he released a surge of electricity from his cheeks. If the noise didn't wake Ash up, then it was certainly Pikachu's Thundershock. Ash was so startled that he jumped out of bed right away, his eyes open wide.

"What on Earth was that for?" Ash asked.

"You heard me. We have to go find Alex. We ought to leave right away if we want to find him quickly. Those people will be busy covering their tracks," Robert told Ash.

"Right! We're gonna find your brother!" Ash said, suddenly alert and determined.

"Just get ready, and we'll be on our way," said Robert.

So after Ash, Misty, and Brock went through their normal morning procedures, the four of them went down to get breakfast. They had the typical continental breakfast of bagels, eggs, orange juice, etc. After that, Brock checked them out of the hotel. Just as they were about to leave, an old acquaintance of theirs walked in.

"Hello, _Master_ Ash," Gary said. Only Gary could make the title of Master sound derogatory…somehow.

"Hello, Gary," Ash said. "What do you want now? We're kinda busy."

"I just want to have a little battle with you, to see if you really deserve to be a Master, Ashy-boy," Gary answered.

"Gary, I won the freaking tournament. Then I beat the Elite Four. Then I beat the Champion. Over a span of three weeks. I think I deserve it," Ash said, gritting his teeth.

"I don't care. And I won't until you can beat **me** in a battle. Or are you just scared that you'll lose?" Gary said.

"I'm not gonna lose! I accept your challenge! But we're in the middle of the city. Let's go to the stadium," Ash said.

"Ash, we really don't have time for this. Just ignore him," said Robert.

But Ash was already racing Gary to the stadium.

"Trust us, it's no use," said Misty.

"Well, why did Ash accept his challenge?" Robert asked.

"If you knew the history between Gary and Ash, or even just Gary, you'd understand," said Brock. "By the way, where are Gary's cheerleaders? I thought they followed him everywhere."

"This guy gets cheerleaders to follow him? That's pretty cocky," Robert said.

"That's just the tip of the iceberg," Misty said, pulling on Brock's ear.

"Ow! Well, I guess we better follow them for now," said Brock.

They followed after Gary and Ash, and went to the stadium.

When they arrived, Gary and Ash were in the two trainer's boxes, generally trash-talking each other.

Finally, Ash said, "Look, can we just get this over with already? How about a one-on-one battle?"

"Whatever," said Gary "But you have to choose your Pokémon first."

"Fine," said Ash. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

Pikachu bounded from Ash's shoulder to the Pokéball mark in the middle of the floor. As always happened when Pikachu was right before Pikachu was in a battle, sparks were flying from his cheeks, because he was building up electricity in them.

"Umbreon, I choose you!" said Gary. Gary threw Umbreon's Pokéball forward, and Umbreon came out, growling, ready to battle.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" said Ash.

At the same time, Gary said, "Umbreon, Quick Attack!"

Pikachu was about to release his thunderbolt, but Umbreon slammed into Pikachu, knocking him backwards, and sending an errant thunderbolt into the air. Pikachu leapt right back up, though.

"OK, Pikachu, use your own Quick Attack!" Ash said.

"Umbreon, Skull Bash," Gary said.

Pikachu ran right into Umbreon, but it did minimal damage. Umbreon reared his head, preparing to use his powerful Skull Bash.

"Pikachu, Double Team!" Ash said.

All of a sudden, a circle of Pikachus surrounded Umbreon. Not knowing which one to attack, he just jumped forward. Which was not where the real Pikachu was.

"So that's how you wanna play, huh, Ashy-boy?" Gary said. "Umbreon, Faint Attack!"

Then, Umbreon suddenly knew which Pikachu was the real one, and which ones were illusions. He also could tell what Pikachu's next movements were going to be, so he couldn't miss. He barreled directly into Pikachu, and ended the Double Team charade.

"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave!" said Ash.

Pikachu released a pulse of electricity, spanning about 60 degrees, at Umbreon. Umbreon, though unhurt, started sparking all over his body. He wasn't moving, either.

"Umbreon, get over it and use Shadow Ball!" said Gary.

But though Umbreon tried to get up, he couldn't generate a Shadow Ball to launch at Pikachu. The Paralysis was too effective.

"Pikachu, use Thunder!" said Ash.

Pikachu's little body began to glow yellow, and he cried, "PIKACHUUUUUUUU!" as a bolt of lightning shot up into the air, then curved back down to where Umbreon was. It shocked Umbreon so much that afterwards, Umbreon was sizzling a little.

"Umbreon, return," Gary sighed. He gritted his teeth angrily. "Well, Ash, I guess you do deserve to be called a Master. I'll catch you some other time."

He waved his hand and began to leave.

"That's just it? You just want a battle, then you leave as quickly as you came?" Ash said.

"Well, I figure that if I lost to **you**, I have to get better and smarter. So I'll just go back to Pallet to study with Gramps for a while, then I'll start training like there's no tomorrow. Might as well start right away, too. See ya later, Ash."

On that note, Gary departed.

"Wait, was that an insult?" Ash asked after Gary had left, scratching his head.

"He can't possibly be that dense. It took him that long just to raise the question?" Robert asked.

"Unfortunately, he is," said Misty.

"That's sad. Well, now that that's out of the way, can we get going ourselves now?" Robert said.

"Of course," said Ash.

They left the stadium, and soon afterwards, left town. They were on their way.

--

Later that day, in the surrounding forest…

"So, where to now, Robert?" asked Brock. "You would know best about who your enemies are; who would want to kidnap Alex."

"To be honest, guys, I'm just as clueless as you are," said Robert.

"Then where are we going?" asked Misty.

"Home, so I can talk to Dad about this. He may have made some enemies, and those enemies might have ended up knowing too much," said Robert.

"Why are you so sure that it was because your family is a line of Messengers?" Ash asked.

"Pika pi chu pika pika," -Ash makes a good point,- agreed Pikachu.

"Because, why else would anyone want to take him?" Robert asked.

"Well, for starters, he was a Champion," Misty noted.

"**Was** a Champion. If that were the reason, why not just take me or Ash?" Robert again responded with a question.

"Pika," Pikachu sounded worried.

"Relax, Pikachu," said Ash.

"Pi," -Fine,- he answered.

"Still, aren't you being a little presumptuous?" Brock asked.

"Fine. **You** think of a more plausible reason for someone to kidnap Alex," Robert said.

"O.K., I see your point," Brock surrendered.

"But beyond that, as I said before, I don't have any leads. If anyone does, it's Dad. And since he's in Blackthorn City, that's where we're going," Robert said.

Since they were traveling northward to Blackthorn City, it was an uphill hike, so the journey took several days. Every day, they seemed to run through the same exact discussion, and each time, the more certain Robert, and the group as a whole, was that was that the reason for Alex's disappearance was because he was a Messenger.

One evening, just as they were planning to set down and camp for the night, they reached a vast and grassy field, and decided that it was perfect. They laid out the three tents around a campfire, and had some soup that Brock prepared. Since the trees were over sixty feet away, and it was a clear night, Ash and Misty went to watch the sun set.

"Isn't this romantic, Ash?" Misty asked.

"It is when you're here with me, Misty," Ash responded.

"You're such a charmer," Misty said. She scooted in closer to him and hugged him. "The sunset is really beautiful tonight, huh?"

"Not as beautiful as you," ash said as he leaned close to her.

"Oh, you," Misty said as she, too, leaned in.

Then they kissed.

"What's up with those two?" Robert asked as he was playing a game of Blackjack with Brock on a tree stump.

But it was Pikachu who answered Robert's question before Brock could.

"Pikapi chu Pikachupi ka pika pika ka chupi pika kachu," -Ash and Misty have just realized that they love each other,- he said to Robert.

"Ty tyranitar ra tar nitar?" -How long have they known each other?- Robert asked Pikachu.

"Uh, Robert—" Brock started.

"What? I'm talking to Pikachu, not you. Why would I use English?" Robert responded.

"Never mind," said Brock.

"Pi, pika pikachu chu pika pi pikachu, pika kachu pikachu chu ka pika ka pi," -Well, they've known each other for five years, but they didn't confess their love to each other until the other night,- Pikachu said, ignoring Brock's interruption.

"Tar ty tyranitar nitar?" -How did they first meet?- Robert asked.

"Pi… Pikachupi kachu Pikapi pi Pikachu chu pika pika," -Well, Misty fished Ash and me out of a river,- Pikachu sounded a little embarrassed as he answered.

"Ni ranitar ty tyranitar!" -She made a lucky catch!- Robert laughed.

"Pika, pikachu pi pika," -Yeah, I guess so,- responded Pikachu as he laughed along with Robert.

Meanwhile, Ash and Misty finished kissing. They watched the sunset in silence a little while longer.

"You know Ash," Misty began. "When you became the Champion, I was happy for you. I really was. But I was also worried that it would mean the end of our travels together. I thought that since you were the Champion, you would have to stay at the Silver Conference and battle challengers, and defend your title. I was worried that we'd have to go our separate ways, and I'd never be able to tell you that I love you."

"Obviously, you had nothing to worry about. Granted, I'm the Champion, but you've already told me that you love me, and we're still together, on a new journey. Just that this one isn't as simple as going from gym to gym collecting badges," responded Ash.

"Plus, it's much more dangerous," added Misty.

"I guess, but it feels much safer since I'm with you—unless you take out that mallet of yours," Ash said cautiously. (See A/N2 at the bottom of the page)

"Relax. That old thing? You don't have to worry about that anymore," Misty reassured him.

"Thanks," Ash said.

At that point, the sun finished falling below the verdant hills in the distance. Stars that had been trying to shine became the night's main attraction. Robert and Brock got ready for bed, and each went into their respective tents. Pikachu slipped into the tent that Ash and Misty were sharing (Again, see A/N1 in chapter 2). But Ash and Misty gazed at the stars for a little while longer.

"Robert says that we should be in Blackthorn City by this time the day after tomorrow," Ash said.

"I can wait a little more," Misty commented.

"Why's that?" Ash asked.

"Because out here, it's so peaceful and quiet. The other guys know when to leave us alone, so it can just be me and you, like right now," Misty said.

"I love you," Ash said.

"I love you, too," Misty said.

They briefly kissed for a second.

Then Misty said, "It's getting late. The Bug types will be coming out soon. We should get to bed."

"Alright," Ash groaned. He had always found Misty's fear of bugs to be ridiculous, but now that he and Misty were in a relationship, though he still didn't like it, he at least respected it.

They walked back to their tent together, and when they entered, they saw Pikachu curled up, sleeping on Ash's pillow. After changing and brushing their teeth, Misty went into her sleeping bag, while Ash carefully removed Pikachu from his pillow. Then he slid into his own sleeping bag, turned off the lamp, and went to sleep.

--

Three days later…

The group had finally reached Blackthorn City, Robert's hometown. But they came in from the south; since Robert's house was in the northeast part of town, it would be the afternoon by the time they reached it. Robert seemed more upbeat.

"I haven't been here since Easter. It's good to be back home," said Robert as they walked through the streets.

"Come to think of it, I haven't been back to Pallet in ages," said Ash.

"Almost five years have passed since I've last been in Cerulean," Misty noted.

"And I can't even remember the last time I was in Pewter City. I hope Dad's not having any trouble with the kids," said Brock.

"Would you three give it a rest? That's not the hot issue right now," said Robert.

They walked the rest of the way having slightly more engaging conversations. Occasionally, Robert tried talking about the Dragonairs, but no one else was even remotely interested in sports, so he gave up.

Finally, it was around 4:30 when Robert announced, "We're almost there. This is my street. My house is just around the corner."

But when they rounded the corner and saw Robert's house, there was a uniformly matte black van parked outside of his house.

"Oh, crap! It must be the same people who took Alex! They must be after Dad!"

"Robert, you're being paranoid. It's probably just some TV station," said Ash.

"No, you dense idiot! If it were, it would have markings indicating the channel. But look! No markings at all!" Robert whispered. "Let's hide in the bushes until we think of something."

"Why don't we just run in and help?" Ash asked.

"Pi pikachu," -That's stupid,- said Pikachu.

"What a tactical idiot," said Misty.

"That's crazy," said Brock.

"I really don't think I have to explain why that won't work," said Robert. He paused for a moment to think. He ran through various scenarios in his mind. Then he commented, "OK, here's the plan."

Robert began drawing various symbols in the dirt at their feet. There were three boxes, indicating Robert's house and the two neighboring houses. There was also a line running parallel to the three houses, indicating the street. He picked up four rocks, each obviously to represent one of the gang. Ahs and Pikachu counted as one rock.

OK. Here's what we're gonna do," said Robert. "Brock and I will move around the back," he moved two of the rocks to the backside of the house. "Ash, you and Misty cut them off from their van by moving in to the front of the house," he moved the other two rocks between the house and the street. "You guys hold your position, while Brock and I will move in from the back," he moved his and Brock's rocks into the house. "Then we'll have them trapped. Oh, and would you mind looking away for a sec? And when I'm done, put my clothes in your backpacks."

They nodded their heads and looked away. They could hear branches snapping as Robert grew, changing into his Tyranitar form.

Robert let out a quiet groan escape from his mouth, letting the guts know that they could look. They turned around, and Brock stuffed Robert's clothes into his backpack. Robert put a talon to his mouth, and then pointed another talon at the house, indicating to begin. They left the bushes, and started creeping towards the house.

They managed to get there unnoticed, and while Ash and Misty stood in the front yard, Robert, with Brock literally at his tail, opened the back door and entered.

But as soon as they went in, the first things that they saw were Robert's parents. They were in a cage, unconscious. They next things they saw were four people in dark, black clothing. Specifically, they wore black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt, and black caps, which were pulled down over their eyes. They were dragging the cage to the front door. Robert screamed. Well, more specifically, he Screeched. He ran at the four people, preparing to use a Crunch attack.

However, two of the four people hustled to the front of the house, while the other two stayed and released to Pokémon from their Pokéballs. The whole time, the four people never spoke a word.

From the two Pokéballs came a Breloom and a Poliwhirl.

"Breloom," uttered its trainer. "Mach Punch."

All of a sudden, the Breloom leapt forth from its stance in a blur, and before you knew it, it had punched Robert right below his chin. Robert was stopped in his tracks. He looked at Brock, and made a throwing motion with his arm.

"OK, then. Vulpix, go!" said Brock, who understood the signal.

Brock's Vulpix emerged from her Pokéball.

"Vulpix, use Fire Spin on that Breloom!" said Brock.

Vulpix opened her mouth, and unleashed a tornado of flames at the Breloom. However…

"Mach Punch, again," the trainer told her Breloom. "And dodge it."

Breloom jumped out of the path of the fiery cyclone, and jabbed Robert again, but this time in the chest. Robert grimaced slightly, but wasn't terribly bothered by the attack. Robert prepared to use another Crunch.

"Poliwhirl, use Mind Reader," said the other trainer.

Poliwhirl focused, and in his eyes appeared a targeting reticle.

At that moment, Robert sunk his teeth into Breloom's leg. The Breloom cried out in pain, and tried vainly to escape from Robert's furious grasp. The Breloom's trainer gritted her own teeth in frustration.

"Breloom, use Leech seed," said the trainer.

A seed appeared on the underside of Breloom's mushroom cap. It quickly launched itself at Robert. At point-blank range, it was impossible for him to evade the attack, so it latched onto his body. The seed opened up, and vines began to bind his whole body, which flashed red as the vines sapped Robert's health, and transferred it to Breloom.

Just then, Brock said, "Vulpix, Take Down!"

Vulpix sprinted towards the Breloom, and slammed right into it. The impact caused the Breloom to slide nearly twelve feet backwards. Breloom was bleeding profusely where Robert had bitten him, and was badly hurt where Vulpix had collided with it. Ye it was very persistent, and got back up.

That was when the other trainer told Poliwhirl, "Dynamicpunch."

Poliwhirl charger at Robert, it's hand glowing white. The targeting reticle from its previous Mind Reader move was still there. It guided Poliwhirl's otherwise horribly inaccurate Dynamicpunch straight under Robert's chin, a hair from where Breloom's Mach punch had hit. When the Dynamicpunch hit, it seemed to unleash a large amount of force with the impact, and it sent Robert flying towards the wall.

"Vulpix, use a tiny flame to burn the Leech Seed off of Robert," said Brock.

Vulpix obliged, and soon Robert was free from the health-sucking plant. But he was still in bad shape, mainly from Poliwhirl's Dynamicpunch, and stumbled a little when he got up.

_You know what,_ he thought. _Screw this. I'm gonna end it now!_

All around Robert, flat stones, about four inches in diameter, and with razor sharp edges, rose up from the ground. They flung themselves at Breloom, who, due to its badly wounded leg, was unable to dodge to attack. Breloom's slim frame was soon covered with cuts, and fell unconscious from blood loss. The trainer gritted her teeth again as she recalled her Breloom.

"Poliwhirl, use Hydro Pump on that pesky little Vulpix," the Poliwhirl's trainer told it.

Poliwhirl somehow launched a jet of water from the swirl on its chest. It completely smothered Vulpix. Hydro Pump was already a powerful attack, and with it being super effective against Vulpix, it barely needs to be said that Vulpix was KO'd.

"Vulpix, return," said Brock.

Vulpix returned to her Pokéball.

Robert used another Screech attack on Poliwhirl. Poliwhirl put its hands to its head, but it was no use. It looked up, and saw Robert charging at it for yet another Crunch attack.

_No time for another Mind Reader/Dynamicpunch combo,_ thought Robert. _Whatcha gonna do now?_

"Poliwhirl, use another Hydro Pump," its trainer told it.

_Ugh, water! I hate water—I'm weak to it!_ thought Robert.

The blast of water soon reached Robert.

_No! I can't faint now! Not when Mom and Dad are in danger! I… I must continue!_ Robert thought.

Amazingly, Robert continued forward through the Hydro Pump at Poliwhirl. The trainer seemed shocked.

"Poliwhirl, increase the intensity of your Hydro Pump!" he told Poliwhirl.

But Robert still continued on. He was slower now, but he was determined to save his parents. Finally, he reached Poliwhirl. He clamped down on it with such concentrated power of will that Poliwhirl immediately stopped its Hydro Pump, and collapsed.

"Poliwhirl, return," grunted its trainer. He looked at the other trainer, and they exited the house, leaving Robert's parents.

Robert tapped Brock's backpack. Understanding, Brock took it off, unzipped it, and took out Robert's clothes. Robert took them, then walked over to the bathroom, and changed back into human form.

When he stepped out, he looked beat up. There was a large, purplish swelling under Robert's jaw, where he had been repeatedly punched; he was clutching his chest, there were red lines criss-crossing his body from the Leech Seed, and his skin was a little pale. The wounds form his battle didn't magically disappear when he shapeshifted.

"We should get Mom and Dad to the hospital," Robert said as he stumbled to the ground.

"And you, too," Brock added.

"Nah, for these kind of injuries, I need to go to a Pokémon Center. I'll change back in a bit. I shifted just because I needed to tell you this stuff," Robert said weakly. He walked over to a couch, and laid down on it.

"Should I call 911?" asked Brock.

"Couldn't hurt. Phone's on the end table," said Robert.

So Brock did.

--

Simultaneously…

Ash and Misty were standing outside, when they heard a high-pitched wail erupt from the house. Shortly thereafter, two people in black shirts, caps, and pants came out the front door. They ran towards the black van.

"Oh, no you don't," said Ash. "Pikachu, go!"

Pikachu, who had been standing at Ash's side, leapt forward a few feet. As always, sparks flew from his cheeks.

Misty also pulled a Pokéball from her hip and said, "Starmie, go!"

But another Pokéball that was still on her belt opened up, and Psyduck came out.

"Psy…" it whined, cocking its head.

"Psyduck, get back into your Pokéball right now!" Misty yelled as she hurriedly returned Psyduck.

"Starmie, go!" Misty said, trying again.

This time, Starmie came out of its Pokéball for real. The lavender ten-pointed star was rarely used by its trainer, who for some reason preferred is pre-evolved form, so it was hungry for a battle.

The other two trainers had no reaction other than to each take out a Pokéball of their own. They released a Shelgon and a Graveler from them.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Shelgon," said Ash.

"Starmie, use Water Gun on Graveler," said Misty.

Pikachu closed his eyes, and sent a surplus of electrical force at Shelgon. Though Electric type attacks were weak against Shelgon, Pikachu was at Level 100, so Shelgon was already in the red. Its whole body was covered in burns, but again, it was still conscious.

Meanwhile, Starmie lowered its tip that pointed straight up at Graveler, releasing a stream of water from it, and soaked the Graveler. Graveler didn't look so good, either.

"Shelgon, use Dragon Breath on the Starmie," said the trainer.

Shelgon breathed a current of fire from out of the hole in its shell. It hit Starmie smack in its red gem. Starmie was hurt, but it was not out.

"Graveler, use Rollout," ordered its own trainer.

Graveler closed its eyes and mouth, and wrapped its arms and hands tightly around its body. Then it started rolling out at Pikachu.

"Pikachu, use Agility to dodge," said Ash.

Pikachu jumped out of the direct path of Graveler and to the side, but Graveler turned, and kept rolling out towards Pikachu. It bowled over Pikachu, who squealed, "PIKAAAAAAA!" Graveler kept on rolling.

"Starmie, use Take Down on Graveler," said Misty.

Starmie jumped into the air and started swirling on an imaginary axis that ran through its gem and was perpendicular to the plane that was common to all of its spikes…arms…appendages—whatever (See A/N3 at the bottom of the page). Then it span towards the rolling Graveler. It collided with it and stopped the Graveler. But Starmie took a large amount of recoil damage, and two of its spike thingies were chipped. Yet incredibly, Starmie stood upright. The Graveler, on the other hand, could barely move. It fell to the ground.

"Graveler, return," resigned its trainer.

"Shelgon, use Double Edge on that Starmie," said its trainer.

Shelgon charged at Starmie, its whole body glowing white. Shelgon's impact with Starmie knocked Starmie into the street, and its gem was pulsing a faintly glowing red. Shelgon, too, was lying on its side, unable to battle.

"Starmie, return," said Misty.

"Shelgon, return," said the Shelgon's trainer.

At that moment, two more black-clad people came out of the house, and with a hand motion to the other two, they all entered the black van and drove off. A few moments passed, and Brock opened the door and said, "You guys should come in. Robert's hurt."

They acknowledged, and entered the house.

--

Two days later…

Don Terre and his wife, Jennifer, were lying in adjacent hospital beds. Don had a Dragonairs preseason game on TV. It ran in the family, just like other things. Jennifer was reading a paperback novel. They were hooked up to machines indicating that all their life functions were normal.

Don was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his late fifties. He had the same mossy green hair that his two sons had, only his was short and neat. His eyes, however, though green, were the same green as his hair, not the emerald green eyes that Robert and Alex had. He was wearing a standard-issue ice blue hospital gown.

Jennifer seemed about a decade or so younger than Don, and had long, straight brown hair. She was the one with the emerald eyes that her two sons had inherited. Like her husband, she wore a standard hospital gown.

"Jen, I'm sorry you got dragged into all this. You could've married any other guy—well, except Lance—and everything would've been just fine for you," apologized Don.

"Don, I know that, but I love you, sweetie. If this is what it's like to be married to you, I don't care," reassured Jennifer. "Hey, we've been together for nearly thirty years. If that doesn't tell you that I love you, I don't know what does."

"Alright, then," said Don.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and a nurse walked in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Terre, your son, Robert, is here to see you," she said. "And he's brought some of his friends."

"Let 'em in," said Don, wondering exactly who the nurse meant by "friends".

Robert stepped into the room, and was soon followed by Ash, Misty, and Brock. He hugged each of his parents.

"I'll leave you guys alone," said the nurse, slipping out of the room.

"Sorry I couldn't see you guys yesterday. I just got out of the Pokémon Center this morning," said Robert. "Now, do you know who those guys were with?"

"Yes," said his dad. "They were with Gio."

--

A/N2: For the record, I don't remember ever seeing Misty have a mallet. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, or that I've never actually seen it. Just that if I have, I don't remember. This kinda surprises me, because I saw pretty much every episode every Saturday morning from when Ash battled Lt. Surge to the last episode of MQ. I stopped there, because I felt betrayed when I saw the Advance preview. It. Really. Sucked. Anyway, I've read about the mallet in just about every other AAML fic, but don't remember seeing it myself. Was it dub-edited out, or something like that? Please tell me—I genuinely don't know!

A/N3: If anyone knows **for sure** what to call those spike thingies that Staryu/mie have, please tell me. If you're just guessing, don't bother.

Credit to Kefka VI for the idea of having Anonymous Grunt #1 have a Breloom.

Also, Kefka VI proofread my hand-writes for Chapters three and four, and (Kefka, you better copy/paste this, 'cause I'm NEVER gonna say/type it again!) -gulp- Kefka is smarter than I am. (Irons fingers on "cotton" setting.) He reminded me that Brock gave his Vulpix back before this point, and Misty had left her Starmie at the gym before this point, too. I think I must have missed the Brock/Vulpix episode, because I overslept the TV show each morning about 1/10 times and don't remember it at all, and I had forgotten that Starmie was left at the gym. Remembered the episode, though.

At this point, I am having writer's block. As I have told some of you, I have a general plot outline. However, I am at writer's block for everything in between. Which is a lot. I tried summoning the plot bunnies, and it worked. Only problem was, they were for chapter **four**. While I keep doing my part to summon plot bunnies and buy lots of plot carrots and plot alfalfa to lure them in, I'll be taking specific plot suggestions in the form of **PM**s, NOT in your reviews (which you should still write). If I take your ideas, I don't want anyone else other than you, me, and possibly Kefka VI, since, as I said before, he sometimes proofreads my handwrites, knowing what's gonna happen. As to whether or not I actually take your ideas/how quickly I implement them, that remains to be seen. But I probably will; I'm getting desperate. If I use one of your ideas, I'll give you credit. If I've already been thinking of it, but you help develop the idea, I'll give you credit, but mention that I'd already been planning it.

PS: Paul, if you're reading this, get a freaking account already!


	5. Ice Trek

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, the games wouldn't be on a downward trend (though they're still good), FireRed and LeafGreen would be actual G1 remakes, not just G3 games in Kanto. That means no G2/G3 Pokémon, no G3 TMs, no se VII islands, no Dark types or Steel types. I didn't even get them for that reason. But the better graphics were fine. Also, the anime would actually still be good. By which I mean it hasn't been "not bad" since Master Quest, and it hasn't been "really good" since season 1. I want to say that the Orange Islands were "really good", but the whole season was just one big chunk of filler.

This chapter will be a little Rocketshippy. Just a little. So will most of my following chapters.

This chapter is also dedicated to **Espeon Master**, who should actually be reviewing this fic.

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Chapter 5: Ice Trek

"They were with Gio," said Don.

"Who's Gio?" asked Ash.

"Gio was Dad's rival when he was our age," said Robert. "Kinda like you and Gary, I guess."

"Gio always hated that he was always one step behind me," said Don. "He always seemed that way whenever we saw him, at least. I lost track of him after I became the champion, and when he was eliminated from the tournament. I hadn't realized that this is what he had been doing; leading an international crime organization."

"Which would be?" Ash asked.

Don squinted, and then asked, "Just how dense is this kid?"

"Unfortunately, very," said Misty.

"HEY!" yelled Ash.

"Anyway, to answer your question, it's Team Rocket."

"Wait, so those guys were Team Rocket? Why weren't they wearing an "R" on their shirts, then?" asked Ash.

"They were probably some kind of special forces," said Don. "And they were trying to take us away, just like they took Alex. I'd go after them, and find Alex, but as you can see, I'm in no shape for that. Robert, you and your friends have to rescue your brother."

"Dad, you're green on every stat. You could come with us," said Robert.

"That's not what I mean. Robert, I know it's a cliché, but I'm just too old for this. I can battle as well as ever, but to go on a journey from town to town, infiltrating Rocket bases top to bottom; that's beyond my limit. I'd be more of a liability than an asset," said Don.

"But Dad—" Robert began.

"No! I can't go with you. But I want to more than anything. I just don't have it in me. This is your time to shine, Robert," said Don.

This went on for another few minutes. Ash, Misty, and Brock just sat back and watched them go back and forth. Robert was "losing" the argument.

Eventually, Robert said, "Alright, I'll go with them. But where do I go?"

"I don't know where they're keeping him. You'll have to search each of their bases, one by one," said Don.

"OK, where's the nearest one?" asked Robert.

"Just through the Ice Path. Mahogany Town. Given your knowledge of the place, you should be there in a day or so," said Don.

"Thanks Dad," Robert said as he began to leave. "Goodbye."

Robert, Ash, Misty, and Brock all left.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, somewhere in Kanto (I'll give you one guess)…

Jesse, James, and Meowth were walking down a hall in their boss's new-old headquarters. Ever since his old HQ had been destroyed in an incident involving Mewtwo, Team Rocket staged its operations in a place that they weren't supposed to occupy anymore. Well, it kept them hidden.

"What could the boss want with us now?" wondered Jesse.

"I hope he gives us an easier assignment," said James.

"I hope he gives us each new squads," said Meowth.

Jesse and James both looked at each other, then quickly looked away.

"You can leave, Meowth, but James and I have been partners since training," said Jesse.

"Yeah, we really don't want to be separated," said James.

"Den forget da 'each'. I just wanna ditch yous two clowns," said Meowth.

"Say, did you ever pay back Wendy for that fruit smoothie?" asked James.

"I don't even like fruit smoothies!" yelled Jesse angrily, as some arteries in her forehead bulged.

"Eeek! Sorry, Jesse!" said James.

"WOULD YOUS TWO QUIET DOWN!" said Meowth as he Fury swiped them both in the face. Then, realizing something, he said, "Ah, touché."

"Indeed," said Jesse.

They were almost to the large, elegant, red double-door to Giovanni's office. Jesse and James both reached for the gold Pokéball knocker, and when their hands collided, they blushed, looked away, and withdrew their hands.

"Scwew dis. I'll do it myself," said Meowth, jumping up to grab the knocker, and, well, knock. Then Meowth dropped down. They waited.

Eventually, Giovanni's voice could be heard from inside, as it said, "Come in,"

They opened the doors and walked in. They saw Giovanni sitting behind his desk, with Persian at his side.

"I have a new assignment for you three," he said.

James smiled, but knew better than to do anything more than that.

"I want you to stop trying to get that kid's Pikachu. You fail miserably every time. Not even once did you at least partially succeed. In over 500 attempts!" said Giovanni angrily.

All three of them gulped.

"Yet somehow," Giovanni continued. "You seem to be quite good at **finding** this Ketchum boy you refer to. In order to lose to him 500 times, you need to find him 500 times."

The three of them were lost in thought. They hadn't realized that until just then.

"Under ordinary circumstances, I would reassign you to grunt work, as I had no particular interest in young Ketchum," Giovanni went on. "However, in light of recent events, I need to keep close tabs on him. He is traveling with someone who is of interest to me. A one Robert Terre," Giovanni pulled a photo out of his blazer of a green haired, green-eyed boy about the same age as "the twerp". "I need you to follow them closely. Just don't be the bumbling idiots you usually are. Don't let yourselves be seen. Remember, you're just stalking them, you are **not** going to lay traps, you are **not** going to try and catch Pikachu, and above all, you are absolutely **not** going to do the motto. You can't even do it right. Now Butch and Cassidy, they can do it right. Anyway, you three are lucky that you still have a field assignment at all. I would very much like to have assigned you grunt work, but here we are.

"Whenever you find them, comm into the Special Ops frequency. Tell them exactly where the four of them are, and they'll take care of everything."

They stared in amazement. Who was this twerp who had incurred the ire of Giovanni so much that the boss felt compelled to use the Special Operation Troops?

"Now, get going on your scouting mission!"

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison, saluting Giovanni.

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The next day…

The group was in the middle of the Ice Path, with Charizard leading the way, for warmth as much as for light. Ash, Misty, and Brock were wishing they wore more than their usual clothes, which were more appropriate for summer. Granted, it was summer—outside. Robert, on the other hand, wasn't cold at all.

"R-Robert," Misty shivered. "How c-come you're not c-cold?"

"Well, I'm used to this. In fact, this is where I used to play when I was younger. It's the place where I met Slare and Mariemaia. I came here to play with them, and Rex, every day."

"Um, didn't you have school?" asked Brock.

"Well, yeah, but I came here after that. I stayed here with them for several hours or so, then when I went back home, it was getting dark out," said Robert. "Say, I've got an idea."

Robert pulled three Pokéballs from his belt. "Come on out, guys," he said.

Slare, Mariemaia, and, of course, Rex, all came out of their Pokéballs. They immediately realized where they were. They looked at Robert.

"Right. Now it's my turn. Look away, guys," said Robert.

Robert stripped off his clothes and transformed. Then he tapped the three humans on each their shoulders. They opened their eyes, and Brock stuffed Robert's clothes in his backpack.

Robert started talking with Pikachu.

"Tar tyran ty tyranitar. Ni tyrani ty nitar, tyran ty ni," -Tell them to follow me. If I tell them anything else, translate,- said Robert.

"Pika," -Sure,- said Pikachu.

Pikachu looked up at Ash.

"Pi pika pi chu pika pikachu pi," -He said he wants us to follow him,- said Pikachu.

"OK, thanks, Pikachu," said Ash.

"Ash, maybe you can understand Pikachu, but we can't. What'd he say?" said Misty.

"Just to follow Robert," said Ash.

So, for the rest of the walk through the Ice Path, Robert led the way, talking with his old friends, Rex, Slare, and Mariemaia. No wild Pokémon bothered them, because they all knew Robert and his friends. It was smooth sailing pretty much, until the seven of them suddenly found themselves in a large pitfall trap.

"What the?"

"Let us out!"

"Crap!"

There's really no point in mentioning who said what. They all pretty much mean the same thing.

"Charizard, return," said Ash, not wanting anything to get burned.

Four people in black clothing head to toe appeared. Robert glared at them with a lowercase g. They let down a net.

COMMENCE POKÉSPEAK

"Guys, attack!" said Robert.

Rex and Robert both used powerful Stone Edges, Slare used a Slash attack, and Mariemaia used a Present. The twin Stone Edges sliced through most of the net like butter, but they let down another net. Slare took care of this one, Slashing it into little pieces. But they had a third net. Mariemaia exploded that one with a very powerful Present of hers. That seemed to have exhausted their supply of nets. They disappeared for a little while.

"Who were those guys, Robert?" asked Mariemaia.

"They were with Team Rocket. I think I've told you about that organization before," answered Robert.

"Yes," said Slare coolly as he reclined against the wall. Pun not intended.

"So anyway, we should all get out of this," said Rex.

"Any ideas?" asked Slare. "I got nothing."

"Typical," sighed Mariemaia.

"None of us know any moves that can provide enough concussive force and yet small enough damage to get us out," said Slare.

"Well, I can't carry anyone out. I can barely fly on my own!" said Mariemaia as she put her wings to her hips.

"Why don't you ask them for help?" said Rex, indicating the humans.

"OK, fine," said Robert. "Hey, you, Pikachu!"

Pikachu crawled over, and said, "Yeah?"

"Ask them if they have any ideas to get out of this," said Robert.

"OK, but if you want results, you might as well just let me Thudershock you all out," said Pikachu.

"We're trying to find a solution that will keep us at full health. We're probably gonna need that soon after we get out, at the rate we're going," said Slare.

"Must you be so pessimistic?" asked Mariemaia.

"Yes. Keeping one's expectations low makes it harder for one to be disappointed, and easier to be pleased," Slare answered.

"I was speaking rhetorically, actually," said Mariemaia.

Pikachu, who had been listening in, asked, "Are they always like this?"

"Yes," said Rex. "Now I suggest that you ask the humans for help."

"Oh yeah, right," said Pikachu.

Pikachu walked over to Ash, Misty and Brock. He tugged on Ash's sleeve.

END POKÉSPEAK

"Pikapi, Chupika pika chu ka kachu pi pika pi pikachu," -Ash, Robert wants you guys to help think of a way out,- said Pikachu.

"Well, Robert," Ash looked at Robert, who was listening. "Usually when we fall in these things, we just climb out using various footholds. But since this seems to be made of ice walls, and there are no footholds, I don't know what to do."

"Pikachu," -Typical,- Pikachu said as he rolled his eyes. "Pi pika ka pika pika!" -Well, ask the others!-

"Uh, Misty, Brock, got any ideas?" Ash asked.

"I got one," said Brock. "Go, Onix!"

Brock pulled out Onix's Pokéball and sent him out. Onix was too big for the hole, so he "stood" upright.

"Onix, reach up to the top of the hole so that we can climb out," said Brock.

"Oooooonix," said Onix.

Onix stretched his body up to the top of the hole. Onix was just barely long enough.

"OK, people, climb up on Onix, and we'll be out," said Brock.

"OK," said Ash.

"Alright," said Misty.

Robert turned to Pikachu and said, "Ranitar, ty tar nitar tyran tyranitar ty nitar," -Pikachu, tell them to give me my clothes,- said Robert.

"Pika," -Sure,- said Pikachu. He turned to Ash, and said, "Pi pika pika ka chu pika kachu pi pikachu pika pi Chupika," -Tell Brock to take Robert's clothes out of his backpack and give them to him.-

"Got it," said Ash. "Brock, give Robert his clothes."

Brock acknowledged by nodding his head, then took off his backpack, unzipped it, and flung Robert's clothes at him. The three humans then turned away. Robert transformed, then put his clothes on, and returned Rex.

"Why'd you do that?" asked Ash.

"We can't climb. Our limbs are too short, and we weigh too much. I have to be in human form to climb out on Onix's back," said Robert.

"What about them? Why don't they have to be returned?" asked Ash, indicating Slare and Mariemaia.

"'Cause Slare can climb and Mariemaia can fly. She just wasn't gonna leave us," said Robert.

In fact, Slare was already bounding up Onix, and Mariemaia had since flown out, and was waiting at the top, beckoning them on. Robert began to climb up Onix's back himself.

"C'mon, guys," he said, about halfway up.

"Oh, right!" said Ash. He began to climb up, too.

Misty soon followed, with Brock bringing up the rear.

Finally, they were all at the top of the hole. Onix had just "stood" there the whole time. Onix's thick, rocky skin prevented him from feeling the people climbing up his back. It didn't hurt him, either. Onix looked at Brock with an expression that seemed to say, _Now what?_

"Onix, return," said Brock. Onix groaned, before he was sucked back into the Pokéball.

"Blast!" they heard behind them.

They turned around, and saw that the four Rockets from before were back. Or that they had never left. One or the other. They had four snowmobiles, but were not heading towards them. In fact, two of them released Pokémon; one released a Poliwhirl, and the other released a Shelgon.

"They must be the same people from before," said Misty. "One of the trainers that Ash and I battled had a Shelgon," said Misty.

"And one of the ones that Robert and I battled had a Poliwhirl," added Brock.

"Then let's make 'em stop stalking us," said Robert. "Guys, return," he returned Slare and Mariemaia to their Pokéballs. "Go, Red October!" he sent out Red October from the Cloyster's Pokéball.

"Cloyster," it said.

"I'll go, too," said Ash. "Pikachu, go!" said Ash.

Pikachu jumped forward, on all fours.

"Pikachu, use Skull Bash on Poliwhirl!" said Ash.

Pikachu reared his head, preparing to use Skull Bash.

"Poliwhirl, Mind Reader," said its trainer.

A targeting reticle appeared in Poliwhirl's eyes. It's next attack could not miss.

"Red October, use Aurora Beam on Shelgon!" said Robert.

"Shelgon, use Dragon Breath on that Cloyster," said its trainer.

The beam of rainbow light shot from the horn on Red October's head. It hit the blast of fire, which had come from Shelgon's mouth, midway between the two combatants. The contact weakened both attacks, and they diffused unspectacularly. The Shelgon's trainer smiled.

"Let's try that again," she said. It was obvious that this was like a game to her.

Meanwhile, Pikachu had leapt forward, using Skull Bash. Pikachu was like a missile, twisting in the air and on a direct impact course with Poliwhirl.

"Poliwhirl, use Dynamicpunch," said its trainer.

Poliwhirl had used Mind Reader before, so, with the aid of the targeting reticle in its eyes, Poliwhirl landed a direct hit right on Pikachu's head. But Skull Bash was a powerful attack, especially when performed by Pikachu, so Poliwhirl was wringing its hand afterward, eyes closed because of the pain.

"Ash, just use an Electric type attack!" said Misty.

"Oh, yeah," said Ash. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's body began to glow with golden electricity, and then he launched it straight at the Poliwhirl. Poliwhirl's body began to spark all over, and its face contorted in pain. Eventually, Pikachu ended his attack, and Poliwhirl collapsed to the ground, sizzling, and burnt.

"Grr. Poliwhirl, return," said its trainer.

At the same time, the Shelgon's trainer had ordered her Shelgon to use another Dragon Breath. But instead of an Aurora Beam, Robert had Red October use a powerful Blizzard attack. Shelgon shot another fiery blast from inside of its shell, while Red October summoned a swirling, chilly snowstorm. The Blizzard was weakened by the Dragon Breath, but the Dragon Breath was also weakened by the Blizzard. Since Blizzard was a much stronger move, it outlasted the Dragon Breath, and found its way to Shelgon. Shelgon, who was a Dragon type, was weak to Ice types. So, Shelgon was shivering, and hurt badly.

"Now, Red October," said Robert. "Finish Shelgon off. Aurora Beam!"

Once again, the beam of swirling, rainbow aurora was shot from the horn on Red October's head. It knocked the already weakened Shelgon out.

"Shelgon, return," said its trainer.

One of the four Team Rocket agents threw a smoke grenade at the ground, though it was hardly necessary in the darkness of the Ice Path. The guys could hear engines revving up and running. When the smoke cleared, the four were gone, having ridden away on their snowmobiles.

"Well, let's hope that we don't have to deal with them again," said Robert.

"We probably will, though," sighed Misty.

"But for now, let's just get through the rest of the Ice Path," said Ash. "We have to get to Mahogany Town."

"Pika!" -Yeah!- said Pikachu.

"Now, where were we?" said Robert.

Robert sent out his friends, and shifted again, giving his clothes to Ash this time, to eliminate one link in the communication chain. Slare, Mariemaia, and Rex all came back out, and Robert talked and joked with all of them. But the group as a whole was more wary the rest of the way, as it had already been proven that they were vulnerable to attack. Finally, they reached the end of the Ice Path.

"Sneasel snea snea sneasel," -I can see the light,- said Slare. "Snea sneasel!" -It burns!-

"Bird bird," -Har har,- said Mariemaia.

"Just a short walk through the woods, and we'll be in Mahogany Town," said Brock. "According to this map, at least."

Robert looked back at them and nodded.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile…

"Jesse, where are we going now?" asked James.

"The Mahogany Town base. The boss said the new twerp was trying to find our bases," said Jesse.

"Yeah, an' why do ya think they was goin' through the Ice Path?" said Meowth. "Dey must know about da base there."

"So what are we gonna be able to do to help, exactly?" asked James. "We can't do anything other than scout from the shadows anymore."

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Jesse said, winking at him.

"Assuming yous two can get enough brains to—" Meowth started to say, until Jesse smacked him in the face with her fan.

"Ow ow ow! Sorry!" said Meowth.

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Congratulations, loyal readers! You got lucky! I managed to squeeze out 3,154 words, plus you got a battle scene. I'll still be taking suggestions, and more importantly, reviews. Lance100usa and zastaver2, you guys have favorited my fic. Tell me why you like it so much!


	6. Mahogany Revelation

Note: I don't own Pokémon

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, Misty would never have left the group, and would actually win relevant tournaments. Not like that filler tournament, the Orange League. Also, Ash would have fully evolved all his Pokémon except for Pikachu. I do, however, own this particular fic, and all my OCs in it.

--

Chapter 6: Mahogany Revelation

The group had finally reached Mahogany Town. They just spent about two hours traveling from the Ice Path's northwestern entrance to the eastern gate to Mahogany Town. They probably could have done it in even shorter time, because they had stopped to have a short lunch at the lakeshore. Robert had insisted that they eat their lunch while still walking, but Ash had been complaining about needing to rest for a while, so they stopped. It hadn't really delayed them, anyway.

Now that they were in Mahogany Town, their goal was to find the Team Rocket base, wherever it was, and search it top to bottom for Alex. That could be marginally easy, since Mahogany was such a tiny little village, but it would still be difficult to search every square inch of the place, trying to find… What were they trying to find? A trapdoor? A secret entrance? A hidden panel behind a poster?

"So, where's the Rocket base, Robert?" asked Ash.

"I honestly have no idea," said Robert.

"Maybe your Dad knows. Call him," said Brock.

"Oh, sure, I'll ask him," said Robert.

Robert pulled his Pokégear out of his pocket and called his home number. He put it to his ear, waited a few moments, then hung up.

"They must still be at the hospital," said Robert. _I hope_.

He called his dad's own Pokégear. This time, Robert was successful in reaching his dad.

"Hey, Dad," Robert began. "Where's the Rocket base located _in_ Mahogany Town?"

Robert listened to the Pokégear for a moment. Then he said, "Thanks, Dad."

"So, where to now?" asked Misty.

"There's this small shop on the north side of town," said Robert. "We should be able to find the secret entrance to their underground hideout in there."

They traveled through the small town. Within half an hour, they arrived at a small one-story building that looked like a house, but it had a sign on it that said "Open". They entered, and a bell rung.

"Hello," said Robert.

No one was there. But the lights were on. And there was a open panel on the floor in the back, with stairs leading down into it.

"This must be it. Follow me, guys," said Robert as he descended into the hole.

Everyone else followed suit, entering the hole. It was lit, so it wasn't like they needed flashlights or anything. As they were going down the steps, they saw what appeared to be a regal hallway around them, with fancy wallpaper, marble columns, and golden statues of Persian by the walls, which had red gems, probably rubies, in their foreheads. The statues appeared to stand watch over the hallway.

"Kinda overboard for a hideout, don't ya think?" asked Brock.

"It's Team Rocket, what do you expect?" commented Robert.

They hadn't gone very far before a Rocket grunt ran out of a side door and confronted them. She held out a Pokéball, and stared at them menacingly.

"That's as far as you go," she said.

She threw the Pokéball forward, and out came a Voltorb.

"I'll take care of this," said Brock. "Geodude, go!"

Brock sent Geodude out of its Pokéball.

"Voltorb," said its trainer. "Sonicboom."

The trainer had chosen the only non-Electric type attack in her Voltorb's repertoire, because Geodude was a Ground type. Voltorb focused, and a pulse of intense noise emanated from Voltorb's body. However, when it struck Geodude, it did only a small amount of damage; Sonicboom was a weak attack, after all. Geodude seemed unaffected by the attack.

"Geodude, use Magnitude," said Brock.

Geodude hovered down to the floor and stuck its hands into it. Then the ground started to shake back and forth; it was a Magnitude 6! Voltorb began to roll around, bumping into the walls, and parts of the floor jutted upwards, tossing Voltorb around like a Pokémon pinball. Voltorb fell out cold before the miniature earthquake was over.

"Voltorb, return," said its trainer. She ran back into the door from which she had entered.

"Well, that was random," said Ash. "I hope we don't have to deal with that again, huh, Pikachu?"

"Pi pika pikachu," -But we probably will,- said Pikachu.

"Pikachu's right," said Robert. "This place is probably riddled with booby traps."

Indeed, they had barely gone any further when another Rocket grunt jumped out at them.

"Kadabra, go!" he said, releasing a Kadabra from his Pokéball.

"I'll handle this punk," said Robert.

"Uh," Ash began. "Are you sure that—"

"Not like that, stupid," said Robert. He pulled a Pokéball from his belt and sent tossed it out in front of him.

"Go, Slare," said Robert.

Slare came out of his Pokéball, ready for battle.

"A Dark type. Hmph," said the grunt in a frustrated manner. "Use Reflect, then. Use it to send any spell he uses back at him."

"Wrong game, dumbass," said Robert. "Just for that, you lose a turn! Slare, use Shadow Ball!"

Slare started to accumulate what seemed to be darkness itself in the palm of its claw. The darkness seemed even to spark as it grew. Slare, after building up a large amount of shadow, cocked his arm back, then threw the Shadow Ball at Kadabra. Kadabra, being weak to Ghost types, fell to the floor.

"Pathetic," said the grunt. "Kadabra, return."

Then he, too, hurried back through the doorway through which he'd entered.

"We've got to be careful if we don't want to deal with anymore of that," said Misty.

But they had only walked a few more steps when yet another Rocket grunt slid out of the walls, and, throwing a Pokéball, said, "Go, Ponyta."

"My turn," said Misty. "Go, Starmie!"

But as she was about to throw Starmie's Pokéball, Psyduck came out of its Pokéball instead.

"Psy-y-y… duck," it said dopily.

"PSYDUCK!" Misty yelled angrily as she returned Psyduck. "Go, Starmie!"

Starmie came out of its Pokéball this time, as it said, "Ha."

"Ponyta, use Fire Spin," said the grunt.

Ponyta opened its mouth, and sent a spiraling, fiery tornado at Starmie. Starmie, however, being a Water type, simply shrugged it off. Besides, Ponyta wasn't even evolved. And Fire Spin isn't that great of an attack, either.

"Starmie, use Water Gun," said Misty.

Starmie pointed its top tip towards the Ponyta, and shot a stream of high-pressure water from it. Ponyta was soaked, and its flames sizzled a little, though they did not go out completely. It knelt to the ground weakly.

"Ponyta, return," said the grunt. That grunt also left the way that that grunt had came.

"I'm getting tired of these clowns," said Ash.

As usual, it was only a short time before a fourth one jumped out at them from the standard hidden door.

"Go, Mantine," said the Rocket grunt.

Robert began to enlarge one of his Pokéballs, as he said, "Circuit, get ready to battle!"

Then Ash stopped him and said, "Nah, you've had your chance. I wanna have a go. Pikachu, I choose you!"

"Uh, didn't he just say he was tired of these guys?" Robert asked.

"That's Ash for ya," said Misty.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt," said Ash.

Pikachu closed his eyes, and his cheeks sparked with electricity, and soon his whole body was glowing with yellow light. Then he opened his eyes, and released a bolt of lightning at the doubly weak Mantine. Mantine conducted the electricity too well, and soon had Xs for eyes.

"Ugh, Mantine, return," said the grunt.

The grunt ran back into the wall. The group kept on walking.

But they hadn't gotten very far when still another Rocket grunt popped out of the wall, who said, "Go, Tangela."

"You've got to be kidding me," said Misty, enlarging a Pokéball. "How many of these guys are there?"

--

Much later (because I don't feel like explaining twenty-something battles)…

After a long succession of battles with Rocket grunts, the group had finally reached a door at the end of the underground hallway.

"This must be the actual base," said Robert. "This hallway full of grunts is probably supposed to just keep intruders away."

"In which case, it failed its job," said Brock.

"Well, they probably didn't anticipate two Pokémon Masters and two gym leaders to try and break into their hideout," said Misty.

"Pi pika kachu pika pi pikachu," -And a level 100,- Pikachu said proudly.

"I just hope we don't run into anymore grunts in the five yards between us and that door," said Ash.

Everyone chuckled carefully. They knew that Ash was only half kidding. They were relieved when they did not, in fact, encounter any more Rocket grunts on their short walk to the door. Robert tried to open the door.

"It won't open," he said. "It's locked."

"Well, what do you expect, for them to just leave it open and let us waltz merrily on in?" said Misty. "They're obviously going to lock the door."

"Well, then, it looks like I'm going to have to bust the door open," said Robert. "You know the drill, guys. Ash, you take my clothes."

Ash, Misty, and Brock did indeed know the drill, and faced the wall. Robert tossed his clothes to Ash, who opened up his backpack and shoved them in. Robert, now in Tyranitar form, started to ram the door with his body. It wasn't an attack per se, but a simple use of brute strength. After three tries, the door started to show some dents. After two more, the dent was about six or eight inches deep. Two more attempts after that resulted in the door finally being knocked off of its hinges. It fell down to the floor with a loud clang that reverberated through the underground structure. They passed through the doorway to the other side.

They entered a large room full of computers, odd-looking machines, and scientists. But the scientists were clearly surprised, scared, and angry that their own private laboratory had been intruded. Many of them came forth with Pokéballs.

"We don't have time for this," said Ash.

"Too bad," said one of the scientists. "Neither do we. Magneton, go!"

The scientist sent out a Magneton from its Pokéball.

Brock began enlarging one of his own Pokéballs, but Robert held his arm out in front of him, telling Brock to let him battle.

"Uh, OK, then," said Brock.

Robert lunged at the Magneton. As he did so, his teeth began to suck the light out of the surrounding air; Crunch.

"Magneton, stop him with a Thunderbolt," said the scientist.

Electricity started to arc from between the tips of Magneton's magnets; it was charging up electricity. Then, it sent a streak of lightning straight at Robert. Robert slowed, but his facial expression indicated more an itch than an injury.

_Ungh, I haven't been part Ground type for a while. You'd think I'd be used to this by now,_ said Robert. _Still, that Magneton's not very strong; only about level 45 or so. I'll be fine._

Robert kept running towards the Magneton with his teeth ready for a Crunch attack. Magneton tried to dodge, but Robert Crunched down one of its metal balls. Although Magnetons were as hard as steel—literally—the extra force granted by the Dark type amplification of Crunch still allowed Robert to sink his teeth into the Magneton. The Magneton cried out, but soon collapsed.

"Magneton, return," said the scientist.

Upon seeing their comrade lose so quickly, many scientists shied away, and went back to their work. But three scientists still stood courageously blocking another door behind them, on the other side of the room.

"You shall not enter that room," said one.

"Only the Boss, admins, and high-ranking researchers with clearance are allowed in there," said another.

"Which, as far as I can tell, does not include you twerps," said a Third. (Oops, I capitalized it—who gets the reference?)

"We can take these guys on, right guys?" asked Ash.

"Right," said Misty.

"Yeah," said Brock.

Robert roared in agreement.

But in fact what Robert had in mind was a bit different from what everyone else had been thinking. Before the three scientists could even draw their Pokéballs, Robert began a powerful Stone Edge. Sharp stones hovered up off of the floor, and flew towards the three Rocket scientists. Everyone was surprised, but they were especially surprised. Perhaps it was because they were the ones being attacked. They tried to run, but the barrage of rocks filled the entire room. The stones sliced through their clothes, gashing their skin. The rocky phalanx hit them in the arms, legs, and torso. Their cuts were very severe, and would probably require immediate medical attention. One scientist even tripped, and looked down to see his own foot lying behind him in a pool of blood, and screamed. Robert roared angrily at the scientists, two of which picked up the third one, put his foot in a bag of ice, and juried away, terrified that they might suffer the same fate.

Robert started walking towards the door, beckoning the others to follow, which they did. Robert, after trying unsuccessfully to open the door by its handle, repeated the procedure he had performed earlier. He knocked the door down, and on the other side was a much smaller room. There were six people in the room: five people who were clearly scientists, and another person who wore different clothing than the rest of them. He was staring at Robert, Ash, Misty, and Brock.

"Hmph," he said. "What do you want?"

Robert tapped Ash on the back, signaling that he was going to need his clothes. Ash took out his clothes, and Robert ran into a little alcove to morph into human. When he returned, he demanded, "I'm Robert Terre. Now who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

"Sorry, Robert, but your brother is in another hideout," said the man. "As for who I am, I will not tell you my name, but I will let you know that I am a Team Rocket admin."

"Well, what does Team Rocket want with Alex?!" asked Ash.

"You expect me to tell you just because you asked, and just give away secret information to the very people who we are trying to keep the secret from?" said the admin. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Seriously, Ash," said Misty.

"Fine, then," said Ash. "I challenge you to a battle—"

Robert interrupted him. "No, Ash, I have to fight this one."

"Uh, OK," said Ash.

"Good, then," said Robert. "I challenge you to a battle, and if I win, then you have to tell me why Team Rocket kidnapped my brother."

"And if _I_ win?" inquired the admin.

Robert hesitated. "Then you can have me."

"Very well," said the admin.

Robert enlarged a Pokéball. "Go, Chaos!"

Robert released an Alakazam from the Pokéball he threw forward.

"Wow, Robert," said Ash. "I didn't know you had an Alakazam/"

"Oh, I've caught over a hundred Pokémon," said Robert.

"Wow," said Ash.

"Oh, c'mon, it's not like you haven't caught that many," said Robert.

"Actually, Ash hasn't even caught twen—"

"Brock, shut up!" said Ash, silencing Brock.

"Whatever," said Robert. He looked at the admin.

"Go, Gengar," said the admin, as he casually sent a Pokéball spinning outward, out of which a nasty-looking Gengar appeared.

"Chaos, use Psychic!" said Robert.

Chaos slowly closed his eyes and concentrated. Then Chaos suddenly opened his eyes, which were then glowing a faint blue. Gengar also glowed the same color. Chaos began to telekinetically fling Gengar back and forth, knocking him against the walls, machinery, etc. Gengar was taking a lot of damage, but it had a level comparable to Chaos', so it wasn't KO'd just yet.

"Gengar, hang in there," said the admin. "Now use Shadow Ball!"

Gengar stretched his two hands in front of himself, and began to generate a ball of darkness in between his hands. The name Shadow Ball was a misnomer; since there was no light casting the shadow, it was darkness. Then, after Gengar had gathered a sufficient amount of darkness, he flung the Shadow Ball at Chaos. Chaos was flung backwards, and was badly hurt; his teeth were clenched in pain. But Chaos somehow got back up, just like Gengar.

"I'm getting a strange feeling of déjà vu," said Misty.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Ash.

"That's because we saw the giant Alakazam and the giant Gengar fighting each other when we were at Pokémopolis," said Brock. "That's also where we met the most beautiful archaeologist I've ever laid eyes on!"

"Can it," said Misty, pulling his ear.

"Chaos, use another Psychic!" said Robert.

"Gengar, use Night Shade!" said the admin.

But Chaos was already flinging Gengar around the room again, and Gengar was just too weak to endure it this time. Gengar fell out cold, KO'd by a super effective attack.

"Gengar, return," said the admin. "Well, I've still got two Pokémon left. Go, Houndoom!"

"OK, then. Chaos, return!" said Robert. "Go, Jackson!"

Robert sent out Jackson, a Marowak.

"Houndoom, use Flamethrower," said the admin.

Houndoom opened up its mouth to blast an orange inferno at Jackson. Fortunately, Jackson was a Ground type, so it wasn't affected very much by the Fire type attack. It didn't hurt that Jackson was at a significantly higher level than Houndoom, either. Although Jackson was slightly charred, it wasn't really hurt or in pain. Jackson didn't even fall down; he was still in his original fighting stance.

"Jackson, use Bone Club!" said Robert.

Jackson held his right hand, the hand that held his bone, behind his back. Then, bone still held behind him, he rushed at Houndoom. When Houndoom was right in front of Jackson, he brought his bone down over Hondoom's neck with such force that a few vertebrae were bruised. Houndoom's legs gave out, and he fell to the floor, whimpering.

"Houndoom, return," said the admin. "Go, Glalie."

The admin sent out his Glalie.

"Jackson, return," said Robert. "Go, Altron!"

After returning Jackson, Robert threw a Pokéball forward which yielded Altron, a Flygon.

"Glalie, use Ice Beam," said the admin.

Glalie's two black horns started glowing a brilliant white. Glalie lowered its head…that happens to be its whole body, I guess…and pointed its aforementioned flowing white horns at Altron. Then it fired a ray of ice crystals directly into Altron's face, which suddenly froze inside a block of ice. Altron flipped backwards in the air as he was struck. Altron was weak to ice types, and, after melting the ice with a breath of fire, chattered his teeth at the cold. But Altron did not quite hit the ground; instead, he swooped back up into the air.

"Altron, use Dragon Claw!" said Robert.

Altron stretched his arms forwars, which were glowing red and yellow. They also seemed to elongate from their original stubby size to be more suited for a Dragon Claw. Altron flew downwards, straight towards Glalie very quickly. Upon reaching Glalie, Altron slashed his claws across Glalie's face. Since his claws were enhanced by Dragon type energy, making the attack more powerful, Glalie grimaced in pain. Dragon flames blazed from Altron's claws, melting Glalie slowly but surely. Glalie seemed dazed at first, and then passed out completely, falling to the ground with a loud thud.

"Glalie, return," the admin said.

"Altron, return," said Robert. "Hah! I won! Now you have to tell me why you kidnapped my brother!"

"Very well, then. I shall tell you what you want to know," said the admin. "If you really want to know, listen closely, because I'm only going to say this once.

"When our boss, Giovanni, was just a young trainer, he had a rival, who, if I understand correctly, was you dad. He was frustrated—no, angered—by his inability to keep pace with Don, your dad. This anger lead to hate, outright hatred of Don. One day, when he had caught up to Don, and was about to pay a visit to his rival at his campsite, he saw something that utterly amazed him. He saw Don turn into a Tyranitar, right before his very eyes. He immediately ran from his vantage point in the surrounding bushes back to his own camp, and pondered what he had seen. He theorized that if blood could be taken from Don, or someone with the same abilities as Don, and that blood were analyzed, that he could create a whole army of these 'Pokémorphs', which he could lead. But this project was for a long time second to his fascination with the legendary Pokémon, Mew, and Giovanni bided his time. Now that the Mewtwo project has been deemed a failure, he turned his attention back to this. After drawing some blood from your brother's body, we were able to concoct a special serum, which will make whoever is injected with said serum a Pokémorph. This," he lifted his hand, which held a small syringe, "Is our first successful formula. However, one thing we could not figure out is the genetic coding which determines what kind of Pokémon one will be able to morph into," he started to point the syringe at himself. "So I don't know what this shall make me able to become."

"Oh, no you don't, you heretic!" screamed Robert. Robert ran straight at the man, and knocked the syringe out of the man's hands, and up into the air behind Robert. Robert then was too busy punching the admin in the face and kicking him relentlessly in the testicles to notice what was going on behind him.

"I got it!" said Ash, stretching his hands out to catch the syringe. But Ash needed better hand-eye coordination; not only did he not catch the serum, but the three and a half inch long syringe impaled him just above his left armpit.

"PIKAPI!" screamed Pikachu, who rushed immediately to Ash's side.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Ash cried out painfully. The pain was excrutiating, as if his left shoulder were being simultaneously burned, frozen, electrocuted, and shredded. Ash knelt down to the floor, clutching his shoulder with his right hand. But he was so disoriented by the pain that instead of ripping the needle out of his shoulder, he accidentally injected himself with the full dose before he managed to fumble with it so that it actually came out.

"Son of a bitch!" swore Robert.

"Oh, no!" said Brock.

"ASH!" yelled Misty. "Ash, talk to me! Ash! Ash!"

"I…I—UNGH!—I feel like…a piece of crap…AAARGH!" Ash gasped. "But—aargh—I'm physically OK. URNGH!"

"We need to get him out of here right now and straight to a hospital!" cried Misty.

"Right," said Brock.

"I'm almost done," said Robert, who was in the process of utterly trashing and destroying all the machines, equipment, computers, samples, and lab tools used for the development and production of the serum. "OK, now we can go."

"Oh, Ash, please be OK," said Misty, who hugged Ash.

"Hey, I—UNGH!—haven't passed out yet. I'll be—ARNGH!—alright," Ash reassured her.

"We should really get you some help right away, though, if that's ever going to happen," said Brock.

"Let's go, then," said Misty.

The group left the base, and headed for the hospital right next to the Pokémon Center.

--

Later that evening, in the Mahogany Town General Hospital…

The doctor had just finished looking at Ash's injury. He was a dark Indian man from the city of Chennai, and young, perhaps in his late twenties. He had five o'clock shadow, medium length untamed black hair, and though he was Indian, he spoke fluent English with a slight British accent.

"Well, Ash, you're really quite lucky. That Antidote could've hit just a few inches farther down and to your right, and you'd be in critical condition, possibly even dead. As it is, there was minor muscle damage, so you'll just have to be gentle on your left arm for the next few days," he said.

"Thanks, Doctor Suresh," said Ash.

"You're also really lucky that it was a simple Antidote, and not something dangerous, like a deadly virus that could cause a global pandemic," said Dr. Suresh.

Ash had told him that he had been in a battle with Team Rocket—true enough—and that Jesse's Arbok had poisoned Pikachu with Poison Sting. He also told him that when Ash had been taking an Antidote out of his backpack to treat Pikachu, he had slipped, and that the Antidote had been flung up into the air, and then back down onto him. What? Was he going to tell Dr. Suresh that they had been looking for Robert's brother in the Rocket hideout, who had been kidnapped for having a superpower, and that he had been injected with a formula that would grant him the same great ability? Sure, like Dr. Suresh would believe that.

"And obviously, be more careful when handling pointy objects like that in the future," Dr. Suresh added. "Well, that's about it. You can go now."

"Thanks, Dr. Suresh," said Ash.

"Please, call me Mohinder," responded Dr. Suresh.

Ash left the hospital room and went outside. Pikachu immediately jumped up into his arms, Misty hugged him, and Robert and Brock each patted him on the back.

"Let's get going to the next Team Rocket base. I don't want to slow you guys down," said Ash.

"Just what I was thinking," said Robert.

They left the hospital, and soon left Mahogany town.

--

Early the next day, in the forest to the east of Mahogany Town, when they were setting out, Robert said, "Hey, Ash, two things. One: this makes you a Messenger now. You gotta play by our rules. Two: Show us what your other form is."

"Sure…" said Ash. "Wait, how do I do that?"

"Oh, uh, well," Robert began as he scratched his head. "It's kinda hard to explain. I guess you just sorta _will_ your body to become its Pokémon form."

"Well, OK, I'll try," said Ash.

"Oh, and should probably take your clothes off, too," added Robert.

"Thanks for the tip, said Ash. "Um, nobody look, OK?"

"OK," said Brock.

"Duh," said Misty.

Ash headed over to a dense cluster of bushes to their left. After he stripped himself of his clothes, he closed his eyes and concentrated. At first, nothing happened. Then, sure enough, Ash started to feel his body changing its form. He fell down to all fours, and could feel fur growing all over his body. Not just ordinary fur, but sharp, spiky fur. He felt each of his thumbs disappear into his forearms, which were now lower legs. He felt his spine lengthening, as a wide but rather short tail burst forth from his rear end. His ears moved up to the top of his head, and became much longer and pointed. He felt his face changing; a muzzle was bulging where his mouth once was. No, the muzzle, which contained an arsenal of sharp teeth, was his mouth. Finally, he opened his eyes, which were totally black, and looked at his spiky, golden fur.

_Well this is awesome! _he thought.

He was a Jolteon.

--

Well, Aggron15, you got your wish. I managed to work it in there. Ash is a Pokémorph.

Now on to business. Sorry about the wait. I had to hand write the second half of this chapter in a claustrophobically packed van full of screaming, bickering, warring, annoying, obnoxious, and sometimes homicidal siblings. I was also busy with HW for most of December, plus I couldn't get on the computer very much. In fact, from the 22nd to the 28th I couldn't get on a computer at all (except for literally a few minutes on the 25th and 26th) because I was at my grandparents, who we've already established not to have a computer.

Thank you Lunarshade29 for giving me the idea to use a transformation serum as a key plot point. It was a big help.

Happy New Year's Eve!


	7. Master Training

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, then the anime wouldn't be a laughingstock, Ash would actually age AND win relevant tournaments, and we'd have our old voice actors back. Not to mention that Misty would never have left the group. And they'd never have changed their outfits.

This chapter is dedicated to **Aggron15**.

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Chapter 7: Master Training.

Ash, still in his Jolteon form, walked out of the bushes, and over to the group. Pikachu looked triumphant that Ash was an Electric type, just like he was.

"Pi, Pikapi! Pikapika kachu pkch!" -Sweet, Ash! Electric types pwn!- said Pikachu.

Ash had always understood Pikachu, but now they literally spoke the same language, and it was as if Pikachu were speaking in English. Ash was mildly shocked at his instant comprehension.

Ash tried to talk in English, but what came out was, "Jolt jolt jolteon eon?" -Was there ever any doubt?- Again, Ash was taken aback by the language he used as if a native speaker.

"Ni, tyranitar tar ty tyran," -No, Rock, Dark, and Ground types are the best,- Robert butted in. "Ranitar, ty nitar ran ty tar rani ty nitar. Tyran Tyranitar ran nitar ni." –Anyway, you're going to have to train. You're probably at level 2.-

"Eon!" -Right!- Ash said anxiously.

Misty and Brock just stood there the whole time, utterly confused.

"I can't tell what they're saying," said Misty. "Can you? You're the Pokémon breeder."

"True, but that doesn't mean I can understand them," said Brock. "Hey, Robert, what are you guys talking about? We're starting to feel like you don't acknowledge our existence."

"Oh, we're just saying that Ash needs to train," said Robert. "And that we're going to start right now."

"Jolt jolteon eon jolt," -Go get my clothes.- Ash told Robert.

"Tar," -OK,- said Robert.

Robert walked over to the bushes where Ash had morphed. He picked up Ash's pants, socks & shoes, shirt, vest, gloves, hat, and backpack. Then he stuffed them all in his own backpack, and walked back out onto the path. Then he told Brock and Misty, "There's a wide river just a few miles to the west. I'm going over there to train Ash. Follow me."

Misty and Brock nodded their heads.

The group kept walking for about a half hour, when they came to the river that Robert had been referring to. When they got to the river's bank, Robert sat down on a nearby boulder, set his backpack down in front of him, and unzipped it. He reached into it, and pulled out four thin tubes, and a fishing reel. He started to twist the parts into each other, and slid the metal reel into the aluminum handle. Then Robert threaded the line through the holes and attached a Pokéball to the end of it. Finally, he cast it into the water.

"Hey, Robert, I thought you said you were going to train Ash, not fish for Pokémon," said Misty.

"Well, according to my Pokédex, Ash is still just level 2, so he needs to train against really weak Pokémon, like Magikarp. So I'm using Dad's old rod. It used to be a good rod, but it's so old…" Robert answered. "Besides, Magikarp give Speed EVs, which would be really beneficial for a Jolteon. Oh, it looks like I got a bite!"

Robert reeled in the fishing pole, and a Magikarp flopped around on the bank.

Robert turned to Ash and suggested, "Ty tyran." -Try Tackle.-

Ash ran straight at the Magikarp, then lowered his head and rammed into the Magikarp, who fainted right away. Robert helped the Magikarp back into the river. Then Robert took out his Pokédex and pointed it at Ash. According to his Pokédex, Ash had been elevated to level 3.

"Jolteon e jolt," -I feel stronger,- Ash said.

"Tar nitar ty tar ranitar," -That's because you just leveled up,- said Robert. "Ni ranitar tar. Nitar ranitar tyran ran." -Don't get used to it. Only no-levels level up that quickly.-

This went on until about one o'clock, when Brock announced that he was making cheeseburgers for lunch. Ash told Robert to give him his clothes, which he did. Ash ran quickly into a nearby scrub of bushes to morph back into his human form. When he changed back and walked out of the bushes, he looked into the river and noticed something about his reflection. His hair was no longer black; it was now the same intense electrical gold as his Jolteon fur, and flecked with white.

"That's weird," Ash mused. He then temporarily forgot about the cheeseburger, and walked over to Robert, and asked him, "Hey, Robert, how come my hair's the same color as my Jolteon fur?"

"'Cause that's just how this works. You're still part Jolteon, and this is how it shows. Look at my hair. It's the same color as my scales. My hair was actually powder blue when I was a Pupitar. When people asked why my hair was different after I evolved, I just told them I had stopped dyeing it," Robert explained.

"Huh," said Ash. "I kinda miss having black hair…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get used to it," said Robert.

Suddenly, the smell of the cheeseburgers that Brock was making wafted in their direction, and Ash was off to the fire pit in a flash. Robert followed after him, thinking that some of Ash's Jolteon speed transferred back into his human form. _Then again,_ he thought, _I do have some of the strength from my Tyranitar form. I should probably bring that up as we're eating lunch._

When Robert got to the camp, Ash had Pikachu right next to him, and he was wolfing down cheeseburgers into his black hole of a stomach. Misty was eating her cheeseburger at a normal rate, and Brock was busy making more over the fire. Robert sat down across from Ash and Misty after he had went and gotten his own lunch from Brock, which he started to eat quietly.

Meanwhile, Ash and Misty were talking.

"So, Ash, what level are you up to?" Misty asked.

Ash gulped down his bite of food, then told Misty, "Well, apparently I'm all the way up to level 15. I mean, I've been Tackling Magikarp all morning. I can feel it, too. I feel faster and stronger." Then he started devouring his food again.

"Well, have you learned any new moves?" asked Misty.

Ash swallowed again, then answered, "Well, I've learned a few kinda useless moves, like Helping Hand, but what I really like is Thundershock. Using it just makes me feel so…alive. Powerful. Full of energy."

"You're always full of energy, Ash," teased Misty.

"Um, thank you?" stated Ash, who was unsure what to interpret Misty's comment as.

"Sure, I guess you can take it as a compliment," said Misty.

"OK, then," said Ash as he finished his cheeseburgers. "Hey, Brock, can I have some more cheeseburgers?"

"They're still raw," responded Brock. "You won't want to eat them just yet."

"Hey, Ash, couldn't you just morph into your Jolteon form and eat them?" said Misty.

"Hey, whatever I am, all food tastes the same. I still hate eating anything uncooked," remarked Ash.

"Oh, sorry," Misty apologized.

"Nevertheless…" Ash trailed off.

"Honestly, Ash, I don't know how you eat so much, yet still maintain that slim body of yours," said Misty.

"Wait, did you just call me hot?" Ash asked.

"Yes," Misty replied.

"Well, thanks, Misty," said Ash. But I can't be as good-looking as you. You're simply gorgeous!" He leaned in close to Misty and wrapped his arm behind her neck.

"Gee, thanks, Ash," said Misty, blushing slightly. "You really think so?"

"Of course," said Ash. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it."

"I love you, Ash, you know that?" Misty asked, leaning into Ash.

"Yup. And I love you, too, Mist," said Ash, who in turn leaned in closer to Misty.

They kissed each other for a little while. Misty felt around with Ash's new Jolteon fur-hair, trying to tell if it was any different than his old hair in a way other than the color. In fact, his hair was even more stiff and untamed than before. After a few minutes, they pulled away, and Ash said, "That kiss seemed…different. Not bad, just different. But so has everything. I don't know what—"

"It's because you still have your heightened Jolteon senses. But your hair and your senses aren't the only aspects of your Jolteon form that you keep when you're human. You also keep your stats, although they do get pretty watered down," said Robert.

"Cool! Hey, what about attacks? Can I use my attacks as a human?" asked Ash excitedly.

"Heh, I wish," Robert chuckled. "But unfortunately, no."

"Ah, well. The hair, senses, and stats are enough for me," said Ash.

"Yeah, well, like I said before; you gotta get used to it," Robert told Ash.

"I probably can," Ash said.

"Well, after lunch, we better get back to your training," Robert said.

"Right," said Ash.

Ash finished another stack of cheeseburgers. Then he and Pikachu followed Robert back to the river's bank, where he went into the bushes to morph. After that, he and Robert kept training him against Magikarp. At one point, Ash asked, "Eon, jolt jolte eon jolteon? Jolteon eon on e jolteon jolteon." -Wait, why am I still battling Magikarp? I'm strong enough to fight Pokémon that can fight back.-

"Tar, ran tyranitar ni nitar, ty tyran ranitar tyranitar," -True, but if you want to keep getting faster, battling Magikarp is the fastest way,- responded Robert.

"Jolt jolteon, e eon jolt on eon jolteon, jolte?" -I know, but I just want to have a challenging battle, you know?- Ash stated.

"Ran, tyranitar tar ni nitar," -Yeah, I know what you mean,- said Robert. "Tar ty tyranitar! Ranitar tar tyranitar ty." -I got another one! Get ready to Thundershock it.-

They trained like that for a few more days, until Robert announced that Ash had maxed out his EVs, so battling Magikarp was no longer his daily routine. Robert said that Ash was also up to level 36, so Ash started training against some of his weaker Pokémon, like Totodile. Robert of course commanded Ash's Pokémon, in case they were too strong. But Ash was getting stronger. In one battle, Ash was battling against Pikachu, because Pikachu felt like he "needed the exercise". Robert was overseeing the match.

"Ty, nitar!" -OK, begin!- said Robert.

Pikachu started off with a Quick Attack, ramming into Ash's right side right away. Ash was knocked sideways a few feet, but got right back up, and returned to his original position.

_Double Kick,_ Ash thought.

Ash began to run in Pikachu's direction. Since Ash was a Jolteon with maxed-out speed EVs, he ran very fast. When Ash got to Pikachu, he turned around, and kicked Pikachu in the stomach twice with his hind legs. Pikachu fell backwards, clutching his stomach, which was bruised.

Then Pikachu's cheeks started to spark with electricity; he was preparing a Thunderbolt. Soon, Pikachu's whole little body was glowing an electrical yellow, and he launched a vicious Thunderbolt at Ash. Ash at first shied away from it, but then he realized something. The electricity was not hurting him; in fact, it was healing him. _That's strange,_ Ash thought. _I'll have to ask Robert about that in a minute._

_Pin Missile,_ Ash thought.

Ash's fur started to bristle upward, and it pointed itself forward at Pikachu. Then, some spikes shot out of Ash's fur—or perhaps they _were_ Ash's fur—directly at Pikachu. Pikachu tried frantically to dodge, but it was no use. Ash's Pin Missiles pierced Pikachu in his right leg and in his tail. Ash suddenly got worried that he had actually hurt Pikachu, so he walked right up to Pikachu's side. Pikachu had been lying on the ground, then, as Ash was lowering his head, Pikachu leapt up and Skull Bashed an utterly shocked Ash ten feet back.

Pikachu crossed his arms, then looked at Pikachu and said, "Chu pika pi: Pika kachu ka chu pi." -Rule number one: Never let your guard down.-

"On," -Oops,- commented Ash.

"Chu kachu ka pika. Pi pika ka chu ka pi, pika pi pika ka chu ka," -Oops doesn't cover it. If this were a real battle, you'd be out cold," Pikachu warned.

Ash got back up, and then started charging up his body in preparation for an electrical attack. Then, his fur sparking gold with electrical sparks, he sent a powerful Thundershock at Pikachu. Pikachu got hit by Ash's attack, but didn't seem to take that much damage. His body had a burn mark or two on it, but Pikachu wasn't hurt all that badly. His teeth were clenched in mild pain, but Pikachu was smiling.

"Pika. Pikapi kapika chu chu ka pipi," -Good. Your attacks are getting stronger,- said Pikachu.

"Eon," -Thanks,- Ash said.

_Quick Attack,_ Ash thought.

Ash burst forward at Pikachu in a flash of gold. Before you knew it, he had slammed Pikachu right below his chin. Pikachu flew up into the air, backflipped and then he landed on his feet. Pikachu was grimacing from the pain; Ash was getting stronger, and Pikachu was going easy on him.

"Kachu ka? Pikachu pika. Pikachu!" -You know what? I'm getting bored. Thunder!- Pikachu exclaimed.

"Jolteon," -Bring it on,- beckoned Ash.

Pikachu gathered electricity from the surrounding air and from the electrical glands in his cheeks. After he had accreted an incredible amount of electricity around his small frame, he closed his eyes and yelled, "Pika-CHU!" Pikachu shot a bolt of lightning straight up into the air. After going up about a hundred feet, it curved back down and shocked Ash. But what Pikachu had failed to learn from his previous Thunderbolt on Ash was that Ash was healed by Electric type attacks. Ash let the Thunder envelop him, soothe him, heal him. When it was over, he felt energized, and stared at Pikachu, who just understood what was going on.

"Pipika," said Pikachu (There's no point in translating this, as it would have to be censored).

_Double Kick,_ Ash thought.

Again, Ash sprinted towards Pikachu with incredible speed. Before Pikachu could react, Ash ran right up into Pikachu, turned around, and, using his hind legs, kicked Pikachu twice in the face. Ash sped back to a safe position from a potential attack from Pikachu, and watched as Pikachu fell over to the ground and covered his face. Pikachu was groaning from the ache in his nose and forehead.

"On jolteon eon jolt jolte eon jolt on," -Oh, I'm not falling for that one again,- remarked Ash.

"Ranitar, nitar tyranitar tar. Rani ty," -Actually, Pikachu's really out. You win,- Robert told Ash.

"On, jolt jolteon eon e jolteon eon on," -Oh, so that would explain why I'm leveling up,- said Ash. "Eon jolte jolteon eon on?" -What level am I at?-

"Nitar," -Let's see,- he pointed his Pokédex at Ash. "Rani tyran." -Level 45.-

"Hey, guys, supper time!" said Brock. "Who wants pasta?"

Ash took his clothes from Robert and went into the bushes to shapeshift back into human. He sprinted back to the campsite faster than most ordinary humans could run.

_But then again, he's not a normal human anymore,_ Robert thought.

Ash, as usual, was sitting next to Misty, slurping down his pasta noodles. Robert sat down next to him and Pikachu, on the opposite side of where Misty was sitting. Ash, noticing this, finished his robe of pasta, and turned to Robert.

"When I was battling Pikachu, I noticed something weird," Ash began. "Pikachu hit me with powerful Electric type attacks, but I seemed to be healed by the electricity, rather than damaged by it. Is this—"

"Oh, that's just your ability. Like mine is that I can summon a sandstorm whenever I go into battle, although I can choose not to. Every Pokémon has one, but they're usually not as good as yours or mine. Mostly just stat-related stuff. The envy of every Pokémon, however, is Wonder Guard. It allows no attacks to hurt you at all, except for ones that you're weak to. Only Shedinja have them, and there aren't that many of those guys," Robert answered. "So, you've been making good progress. Reaching level 45 in about a week. Wow. Wait, you should have just learned Thunder—Jolteon learn that move at level 45. What move did you forget?

"Pin Missile," Ash said. "It was fun, but pretty weak."

"Good choice," said Robert. "Say, you got TM Thunderbolt? You could use it to replace Thundershock, which is really a sort of 'My First STAB Move' kinda thing."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I do have one. Somewhere in here," Ash said, rummaging through his backpack. "Ah, here it is! Gee, I never thought I'd be using one of these on myself."

"Well, when we're done with supper, we can teach it to you," said Robert.

"Sweet," said Ash.

"Another good move to learn would be Rain Dance. Thunder never misses when it's raining. It's a combo called Thunder Dance. If you want to learn it, though, I highly suggest that you get rid of Quick Attack. It's not much more powerful than Pin Missile, and Normal type isn't super effective against anything.. Not to mention that it's redundant with your speed," Robert said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I don't have a TM Rain Dance with me," said Ash.

"Well, we can get one when we're in Goldenrod City. After all, that's where the nearest Team Rocket base is, so that's where we're going anyway," said Robert.

"Speaking of Team Rocket, we haven't been attacked by them since the Ice Path," noted Misty. "They're probably planning something big. I don't mean just one of those times when they come at us with those silly mecha, I mean really big."

"Huh, I hadn't thought of that," Ash said thoughtfully.

They finished their supper, and Ash, Pikachu, and Robert went back to the clearing where they had been training Ash. Ash morphed back into his Jolteon form, and Robert gave him the TM Thunderbolt. Ash chose, of course, to delete Thundershock, because they were basically the same move, except that Thunderbolt was more powerful.

"Ty, tyranitar, nitar ty tyranitar tar ranitar?" -So, Ash, who do you want to battle?- asked Robert.

"Jolteon. Jolt jolteon on jolte eon," -Pikachu. He gives the most EXP,- answered Ash.

"Ranitar, ty tyran," -Pikachu, you're up,- said Robert.

They started to battle.

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Somewhere nearby…

"James, look!" said Jesse. "There's the twerp's friends, and Pikachu!"

"But I don't see the twerp anywhere," noted James.

"Well, look hahdah!" exclaimed Meowth, who was looking through a pair of binoculars. "Hey, I don't see dem neitha."

"Still, we're supposed to be tracking _that_ twerp," Jesse said, indicating Robert. "I'll buzz into Special Ops to tell them where he is." Jesse took a small black communicator out of her pocket and pressed a button. "SO, this is Recon Squad Theta. We have located the target roughly eight miles east of Ecruteak City. Out."

James sighed. "It's no fun not being allowed to do anything. I wish we could try and catch Pikachu; the twerp's not even there, so it would be so easy."

"I know something we can do, James," said Jesse as she leaned in to peck James on the cheek.

"Ooh," James blushed. "But is this really the time?"

"It can be," said Jesse.

"Yous two do dat. I'll go get suppa ready," said Meowth.

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That night…

After four more wins and a loss against Pikachu, Ash had leveled up again, and had reached level 46. Instead of using Hyper Potions on Ash, though, they just had Pikachu shock him back to full health. However, there was still the matter of PP, so they would get him to a Pokémon Center the next day.

"But don't they only treat Pokémon in Pokéballs?" Ash asked.

"Nah, where'd you get that idea?" asked Robert.

"Pi, Pikapi. Pika ka pika pi chu pi pikachu pika?" -Yeah, Ash, don't you remember the first time we were in Viridian City?- asked Pikachu. "Pikapika chupi pikachu chu pika ka pikapika." -Nurse Joy treated me outside of the Pokéball.-

"Yeah, Ash. They get it if a Pokémon doesn't want to be in his or her Pokéball. Don't worry about it. Everything will be fine. Got to sleep," said Robert.

"Alright," said Ash, curling up is his sleeping bag. As Ash did so, Robert noticed a few sparks arc between the strands of Ash's hair. Robert was interested.

_That's definitely strange,_ he thought. _Then again, it's probably just static electricity, but I wonder…_

Robert got up and tried to command a small Stone Edge attack in the direction of the surrounding bushes. To his surprise, a few pebbles shifted. Robert tried harder, and with some effort, he was able to launch a minor Stone Edge at a tree. _Now that's very interesting. If there've been thousands of years for us to figure this out, then why hasn't anyone noticed this until I did just now? I'll talk to the other Messengers about this tomorrow. But for now, I'll work on developing this technique._

After a half hour of testing out all of his moves—Crunch, Rock Slide, Earthquake, and Stone Edge—in his human form, he concluded that the only real difference between using them as a Tyranitar and using them as a human was that it required more effort when used as a human. Actually, there wasn't really any "technique" to develop; it was just like using his moves as a Pokémon. After a while, Robert got tired and went to sleep himself, pondering what he had just discovered.

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The next day…

The group had almost reached Ecruteak City, and were just passing by a rocky outcrop when suddenly, a black tank with an "R" painted on it in red rolled out in front of them.

"This can't be good," said Robert.

"Run!" yelled Brock.

But as soon as the group turned around, they saw another tank behind them. Four more surrounded them on the sides.

"I really don't feel like having to put up with these guys right now. Rock Slide!" said Robert.

There was a low rumble, the kind that is so low that it was simultaneously heard and felt, and an avalanche of boulders cascaded down the hills from the north to the south (pun not intended). The rocks, however, avoided the group of five, though they swept away the six Team Rocket tanks.

When it was all over, Ash said, "Hey, Robert, I thought you said we couldn't use our moves in human form."

"I didn't think so, either, but I guess that I was wrong," Robert responded. "Hey, we're almost to Ecruteak City. I can call the other guys to clear this up a bit with one of the phones in the Pokémon Center. We should be there in about two hours."

In the two hours that it took them to reach the Pokémon Center in Ecruteak City, Robert explained to Ash that it was Ash's hair sending off electrical sparks that had clued him in. Robert came up with a few hypotheses as to why no one had figured it out until the, or for another possibility, why they were the first ones to have it. Ash also tried out some of his moves in human form, but seemed to like to use Quick Attack to speed ahead of the rest of the group. Once they got to the Pokémon Center, Robert dialed up a number on the phone while Ash was being treated.

"Who are you calling?" asked Brock.

"Victoria Windsor. She's the Salamence Messenger, and she spends her free time looking through history books. She'd be the one most likely to know anything about this, and if not, she'd be the first one to dig something up related to this," explained Robert.

The phone rang twice, then Victoria answered it. Brock, seeing Victoria, immediately shoved Robert out of the chair in front of the phone and started flirting with Victoria.

"Never have I seen beauty such as yours!" Brock said.

Misty pulled Brock away by the ear, and Robert got back on the phone.

"Victoria, it's Robert. Sorry about that, he does that to everyone," Robert said. "Now I've got something to discuss with you."

"This better be big. My boyfriend's over, and you're sorta interrupting us," said Victoria. Brock despaired when he heard her say "Boyfriend".

"It is," assured Robert. "It really is."

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Well, I finished hand-writing this chapter while I was pwning my dad and grandpa at Scrabble on Christmas night, and it made me wish I could use some potentially high-scoring words like "Jynx"—21 points, by the way. I still won though…Oops, I'm rambling again.

Please, please review. Another person favorited this fic who has never posted a single review. That really makes me angry, that they have enough energy to favorite it but not enough to post even a short review. If you review, that will help me to know how to write better by identifying my errors and well-written parts.

Check out the fic by my friend, Kefka VI, called Progenitor Samurai. It's a good read for fans of superpower fics.

I'm posting this from the local library because our power is down. We don't have school today, either, because of no power—yipee!


	8. Friendly Competition

Note: I don't own Pokémon

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, then there wouldn't be so many fing legendaries in G4, event Pokémon wouldn't be so impossible to get without having to go to Japan or New York City, someone like Viz, would be in charge of the anime dubbing instead of 4KKKids or Pokémon USA, and the old voice actors would never have been fired.

--

Chapter 8: Friendly Competition

"Victoria," Robert began, "I've actually got two important things to share with you."

"Did you find Alex?" Victoria asked.

"Well, no, but we do know that Team Rocket has him, but that they don't have him in their Mahogany Town hideout. We're on our way to their Goldenrod City base to see if he's there," said Robert.

"Then why are you calling?" asked Victoria.

"I'm getting to that. You may not be inclined to believe me at first, but it's all true.

"About a week ago, when we raided the Mahogany Town base, we found out that Team Rocket had developed a serum which could make anyone injected with it a Messenger—"

"Blasphemy!" exclaimed Victoria.

"Preaching to the choir, Victoria. I destroyed all their machinery, computers, data, supplies, and samples on the spot. The problem was, when I knocked a syringe containing a dose of this horrible formula out of the resident admin's hand, it landed in this guy's shoulder, needle-first," Robert indicated Ash, who had just joined the group after being treated by Nurse Joy and morphing back into a human. "He was so clouded by the pain of having a needle jammed into his shoulder—hey, you would be, too—that he accidentally gave himself the full dose. Hopefully, we'll have a few more weeks to find Alex and destroy all their work on this before they figure it out again. We're going to have to stop them before any more of this happens."

Victoria looked at Ash. "Say, isn't that the new Johto Champion?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Robert. "Why do you ask?"

"Because that serum could have ended up in a much, much worse person's body. Did you know that he saw Ho-oh and Mew, and was Lugia's Chosen One?" Victoria explained.

"Uh, yeah, he already told me that, but how did you…" Robert wondered.

"Remember what my hobby is? I don't have a life," Victoria answered.

"But you have a boyfriend," Robert pointed out.

"He doesn't have a life, either," said Victoria.

"Ah," said Robert, understanding.

"Now what else did you want to tell me?" asked Victoria.

"Well, apparently I can use my moves as a human," said Robert. "I just figured it out a few nights ago, when I saw Ash's hair sparking, which made me curious. They're watered down, but they're definitely my moves. What's going on?"

"Yeah, right, Robert. Lemme see a demonstration, then," laughed Victoria.

"Sure," said Robert. Robert opened up his mouth and his teeth started to sharpen and to absorb darkness from the surrounding air. Victoria's eyes widened when she saw Robert's teeth preparing for a Crunch.

"That _is_ odd," said Victoria. "I'll get on it right away. Call me back in a few hours. Goodbye."

"Well, we've got three or four hours to burn. Who wants to do what?" asked Robert.

"I have an idea," said Ash.

"That's a first," noted Misty.

"Oh, come on!" Ash pleaded. "Anyway, I was thinking that you and I could have a six-on-six battle in the plaza. I'm sure tons of people would love to see two regional Champions battling each other, especially from the neighboring regions of Kanto and Johto."

"You know, I like that idea," Robert said.

"Maybe a lot of pretty girls will show up!" said Brock as his eyes turned into hearts.

"If there are, you're gonna be a good boy and leave them alone, right?" Misty ordered as she pulled on Brock's ear.

"Uh, well—"

"Right?" Misty pulled on Brock's ear even harder.

"Alright, alright, alright!" Brock screamed.

"Good," said Misty as she let go of Brock's ear.

"Let's just go over to the PCs and get our parties set. Unless for some reason you want to use the same guys you used to beat Alex," said Robert.

"Why not? I beat Alex, and in case you hadn't noticed, you're Alex's brother," said Ash.

"Maybe, but we're not that similar," said Robert.

"Really? Because the last time I checked, you were both Messengers," said Ash.

"I meant in battles," said Robert. "Besides, I'm better; I'm a Champion and he's not!"

"Yeah, well who'd he lose to?" Ash asked. "Me!"

They went on like this for a few minutes.

"Seems like the usual pre-game trash-talking," noted Misty.

"And they haven't even set their teams yet," added Brock.

After a little while longer, they both went over to the PCs to select their teams of six. Well, they really only had to fill up five empty slots on their rosters, since Pikachu was a staple in Ash's party, and Robert and Rex were best friends.

"So should we take this seriously, or just as a friendly match?" asked Robert.

"I know I'm going all out. This is a chance for us—and plenty of other people, too—to see which one of us is better," said Ash. "I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was!"

"Except for me!" said Robert, smiling. "Anyway, let's go to the plaza, if we've got our rosters set."

"All right, then," agreed Ash. "C'mon, guys, we're going now."

"We're coming," said Misty.

"You three do whatever you're doing, but my place is here with Nurse Joy," said Brock as he flirted with her.

Misty went over to Brock and pulled on his ear, dragging him out the door. Brock cried out in pain the whole time.

Later, at the plaza, which was located in the middle of the north side of town between the Burnt Tower and the gate to the path that lead to the Tin Tower, Ash and Robert stood about 100 feet a cross from each other, ready to battle. An enormous crowd of perhaps 1,000 spectators had gathered around them. After all, seeing a match between two regional Champions was not something that they got to see every day.

Brock was officiating. "Competitors, select you Pokémon!" he said.

Ash and Robert both threw Pokéballs forward at the same time.

"Go, Jackson!" said Robert.

"Go, Bulbasaur!" said Ash.

"Oh, dang it," cursed Robert. "Jackson, use Bonemerang!"

"Bulbasaur, catch it with Vine Whip!" said Ash.

Jackson threw his bone viciously at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur extended his two prehensile vines straight out from under the bulb on his back, and wrapped them around Jackson's bone. However, the bone had too much momentum to be stopped by a pair of flimsy vines, and what followed was rather comical. Although the bone kept moving forward, Bulbasaur still clung to it with his vines. The bone brought the vines with it, and when the bone turned back towards Jackson, Bulbasaur's vines were wrapped around itself, and Bulbasaur looked like a hostage tied to a chair…with his own vines. Although it was weird, it did almost no harm to Bulbasaur, who, with some difficulty, was able to retract his vines.

"Now, Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!" said Ash.

"Jackson, dodge it and use Bone Club!" said Robert.

Bulbasaur shot a stream of incredibly sharp green leaves out from under its bulb, from a similar region as where his vines came out. The leaves traveled in a helix-shaped path towards where Jackson was standing. Jackson immediately jumped to his left and out of the way, and didn't look back to see that the Razor Leaves had gouged a small pit into the ground where he had been standing. Then Jackson sprung forth from his stance, and swung his whole body about ninety degrees from right to left as he slammed his bone into Bulbasaur's forehead. Bulbasaur slid backwards and a bruise appeared on his head where the bone had struck.

"Bulbasaur, use Sleep Powder!" said Ash.

The bulb on Bulbasaur's back shot a slow but steady stream of spores from the opening on top. The stream spread out into more of a cloud, which made its way to Jackson. When Jackson inhaled the Sleep Powder, it fell asleep in a matter of seconds, and collapsed to the ground. Since it wore a bone over its head that got in the way of its breathing, Jackson snored, too.

"Aw, come on!" Robert whined. "Jackson, wake up and use another Bone Club!"

"Now's your chance, Bulbasaur! Use Solar Beam!" said Ash.

But Jackson stayed fast asleep, while Bulbasaur gathered sunlight in the bulb on its back. Still Jackson slept. Then Bulbasaur extended its hind legs so that it was leaning forward, and shot a citrus-hued yellow beam of light at Jackson's bone-helmet. Jackson probably would have been woken up by the immense concussive force of the blast, but instead, he was KO'd first.

"Jackson is unable to battle. The round goes to Bulbasaur!" said Brock.

"Jackson, return," said Robert. "You were at the type disadvantage anyway."

"Pikapi, pi pika ka pikachu," -Ash, look at Bulbasaur,- Pikachu said as he tugged on Ash's pant leg.

Ash looked, and saw that Bulbasaur was gathering light. Not into the bulb on its back, but rather, onto its whole body, and instead of a pale golden glow, it was a pure white. Bulbasaur's bulb started to grow and unfold, and when the light dimmed down, it was a pink—I mean lightish red—bulb, surrounded by four nearly horizontal green leaves. Where Bulbasaur once was, Ivysaur now stood.

"I saur ivy vy ivysaur vysaur," -I was ready to evolve this time,- said Ivysaur.

"That's great, Bu—I mean Ivysaur," said Ash.

"Go, Omega," said Robert.

Robert sent a Pokéball onto the field, and a Gengar named Omega emerged.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Ivysaur, use Razor Leaf!" said Ash.

Ivysaur shot a horizontal helix of leaves at Omega, but although Omega was pushed back, it wasn't too hurt, being a Poison type taking a Grass type attack.

"OK, Omega, now use Hypnosis!" said Robert.

"Ivysaur, use Sleep Powder, quickly!" said Ash.

While Omega broadcasted a pulse of sleep-inducing waves at Ivysaur, Ivysaur sent a cloud of Sleep Powder towards Omega. The two attacks, being non-concussive, went right through each other, causing both Pokémon to fall asleep. Ivysaur's body lowered itself to the ground, while Omega simply rose a few inches and slept upright.

"What now?" Ash asked.

"I guess we just wait," replied Robert.

The two trainers did wait, but it would be several more minutes before one of the Pokémon stirred. It was Omega, slowly touching the ground again, who woke up first. Ivysaur was still napping.

"Ivysaur, hurry, wake up!" said Ash.

"Omega, use Shadow Ball!" said Robert.

Omega gathered darkness from the surrounding air into a vaguely defined orb in front of his hands, and when it was large enough, he wound his arm up and threw the Shadow Ball at Ivysaur. Still sleeping, Ivysaur was pounded by the attack. This, combined with the fact that Ivysaur was weak from the Bone Club from earlier, knocked Ivysaur out.

"Ivysaur is unable to battle. The round goes to Omega!" said Brock.

"Ivysaur, return," said Ash as he returned Ivysaur into his Pokéball.

_Let's see, whom should I use? I don't really have anyone who's super-effective against a Gengar,_ thought Ash.

"Go, Kingler!" said Ash, sending Kingler out on to the field.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Omega, use Hypnosis," said Robert.

"Kingler, scuttle out of the way and use Bubblebeam!" said Ash.

Omega raised his arms to his forehead and again sent a pulse of pale purple energy at Kingler, trying to hypnotize it to sleep. Kingler, however, scuttled to his right to dodge the attack, causing Hypnosis to miss. Then Kingler started foaming at the mouth, and sent a high-pressure stream of bubbles straight at Omega. Omega couldn't get out of the way in time, and ended up being bruised badly by the Bubblebeam. Omega, did, however, get back up quickly.

"Now, Omega, use Shadow Ball!" said Robert.

Omega gathered a ball of darkness in between two outstretched arms, and hurled the black orb at Kingler. Kingler tried to scuttle out of its path, but couldn't do so before the Shadow Ball collided with him, sending him flying backwards in pain. Kingler then had some trouble getting back upright, a common problem among arthropods. But Kingler eventually did.

"Kingler, end this before it gets out of hand! Use Crabhammer!" said Ash.

Kingler rushed rapidly at Omega, his large claw glowing white. Upon reaching Omega, Kingler brought his claw down hard on Omega's head, sending Omega eight inches into the ground. Omega got back up slowly, clutching his head in pain.

"Omega, use Curse!" said Robert, sensing the inevitable defeat.

"Kingler, use Crabhammer before he can Curse you!" said Ash.

But he was too late. Omega had already manifested a gigantic nail from nowhere, and stabbed himself right in the middle of his body with it, knocking himself out. Immediately, gaseous purple ether emerged from Omega's wound, and proceeded to latch itself onto Kingler. Kingler started aching, and looked hurt. He was still able to fight, but it wouldn't be long before the Curse caused him to faint.

"Omega is unable to battle. The round goes to Kingler!" said Brock.

"Omega, return," said Robert. "Go, Altron!"

Robert released the sand green, red, and yellow dragon onto the field.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Kingler, get rid of him quickly; use Crabhammer!" said Ash.

"Altron, use Fly!" said Robert.

Kingler rushed to where Altron was; ready to bring his massive claw down onto Altron. But before he could, Altron rocketed up into the sky, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. Kingler only succeeded in crashing his claw into the ground and making a large pit. Altron, still high up in the air, tilted itself downward and pointed itself at Kingler, tucked his limbs and wings tightly onto his body, and plunged face-first towards Kingler. Kingler looked up, and his eyes enlarged to about 150 their normal size. Kingler tried to dodge, but Altron quickly reoriented himself with his tail, and slammed straight into Kinlger. The sheer energy of the impact caused the two to fall nearly eight feet into the ground.

"This is why matches are generally held in stadiums," said Misty, noting that several pipes and cables from underground had been torn, ruptured, or otherwise damaged. "Some people aren't going to have power or a hot shower tonight."

"Well, we've spent nearly five years without the two. I'm sure they'll manage," said Brock. "But you're right; they deliberately don't build sewers, cables, or pipes below stadiums so that this doesn't happen. Although, they're probably more worried about a Ground type attack doing damage, as opposed to a Flying type attack.

"Anyway, Kingler is unable to battle. The round goes to Altron!"

"Go, Phanpy!" said Ash.

"Altron, I'm assuming you still want to fight this round," said Robert.

Altron nodded.

"Then stay out there," said Robert.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Phanpy, use Rollout!" said Ash.

"Altron, use Dig!" said Robert.

Phanpy curled herself up into a ball and started spinning with high intensity towards Altron. However, Altron burrowed underground right before Phanpy got to Altron, and kept rolling on…towards Robert.

"Oh, crap!" said Robert as he hurriedly ran to his left and out of the way.

But Phanpy kept rolling towards Robert, and was following him like a homing missile. Everyone in the crowd, and Ash, Misty, and Brock started laughing.

"AAH! Altron, resurface and give me a hand here!" screamed Robert.

Resurface Altron did, right in front of Phanpy. Altron slammed into Phanpy's trunk, and the force of the impact, combined with the Phanpy's speed at the time of impact, sent her flying up into the air. She eventually crashed down behind Ash.

"Phanpy is unable to battle. The round goes to Altron!" said Brock.

"Phanpy, return," said Ash, who thought, _in retrospect, I should've picked a Pokémon with more experience than her._

"So Altron, you still got enough for another battle?"

"Flygon, flygon fly flygon gon flygon," -Actually, I could use a little rest,- said Altron.

"Uh, OK, then," said Robert. "Chaos, go!"

"Go, Bayleef!" said Ash.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Bayleef, use Razor Leaf!" said Ash.

"Chaos, use Reflect!" said Robert.

Chaos quickly set up a transparent barrier in front of himself, while Bayleef swung the leaf on her head around, and launched a barrage of sharp leaves at Chaos. Chaos just stood there, waiting. The leaves passed through the Reflect barrier, but their speed slowed considerably when they did so, and left barely a scratch on Chaos.

"Chaos, use Psywave!" said Robert.

"Bayleef, dodge and use Body Slam!" said Ash.

Chaos closed his eyes, outstretched his arms, and concentrated. Then, he opened its eyes and moved his arms forward quickly, releasing a pulse of Psychic type energy spanning 120 degrees in Bayleef's general direction. Bayleef ran out of the way, so that she was to Chaos' left and a little behind him. Then she sprinted straight at Chaos, rammed right into him headfirst, and knocked him sideways half a dozen feet. Chaos slowly started to get back up, and got back into a fighting stance.

"Chaos, use Psychic!" said Robert.

"Bayleef, use Vine Whip!" said Ash.

Bayleef started to extend her vines from her neck, but they hadn't gotten very far when she started to glow a pale blue, and was thrown around in the air by Chaos. Bayleef was being crashed into whatever was closest; the ground, signs, buildings, cars, etc. But not people; Chaos wasn't berserk. Finally, it stopped, and Bayleef fell to the ground, battered and bruised. But amazingly, she still got up.

"Chaos, use Barrier!" said Robert.

"Bayleef, use Headbutt!" said Ash.

Chaos quickly waved his hands in front of himself, setting up a Barrier on top of the Reflect he had put up earlier. Then he crouched, and got in a defensive stance, bracing for impact. Bayleef lowered her head and charged like a bull towards Chaos. She was slowed marginally by the Barrier right before she hit Chaos, but her momentum was so great that she broke through with little difficulty, smashing Chaos in the chest with her head, and forcing him backwards. Chaos, having collapsed on the ground, tried to raise his head, but soon gave up, and passed out.

"Chaos is unable to battle. The round goes to Bayleef!" said Brock.

"Chaos, return," said Robert.

"Bayleef, do you want—" Ash was cut off as Bayleef ran right into him and started hugging him.

"Bayleef! Get off of me!" said Ash. Bayleef, reluctantly let him get up, but still rubbed herself against him. "As I was saying, do you want to keep battling?"

"Bay! Bay!" she replied.

"OK, then stay out there," said Ash. "Robert, you gotta—"

"Let's not speak rhetorically," said Robert, cutting off Ash again. "Go, Rex!"

Robert sent the most powerful Pokémon in his party and his best friend out onto the field. Bayleef, seeing Rex, was intimidated, but didn't show any fear—not in front of her Ash.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Bayleef, use Razor Leaf!" said Ash.

"Rex, Earthquake," said Robert calmly.

Bayleef swung the leaf on her head around, and released several Razor Leaves from it, which flew, spinning, at Rex. Rex stood there and let them hit him; then, seemingly unscathed, he stomped his right foot onto the ground, and a powerful earthquake shook the entire area. Some spectators cried out in fear, others just stood there and welcomed it as part of the experience. But Bayleef was flung around, hitting jagged rocks that popped up out of the ground, and soon collapsed. She was already very exhausted from her lengthy battle with Chaos, and couldn't take much more. Soon after realizing this, Rex stopped the tremor.

"Bayleef is unable to battle. The round goes to Rex!" said Brock.

"Bayleef, return," said Ash.

"Rex, I know you want to keep battling, so I'm not even going to bother asking," commented Robert.

_Hmm, who can I use against Rex?_ Ash thought. _I know!_

Ash looked down to his left, and asked, "Hey, buddy, you wanna have a go?"

"Pikachu pi pika pikachu pika kachu!" -I was wondering when you'd ask!- remarked Pikachu excitedly.

"OK, then," said Ash. "Go on out there, Pikachu!"

"Pika!" said Pikachu as Pikachu jumped out onto the field.

"Well isn't this something," noted Brock. "They've both got they're best friends out on the field."

"Oh, come on, Ash and I are dating, so—oh, I see what you mean," said Misty, who was at first offended, but then realized that what she had been offended at couldn't possibly be what Brock meant.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" said Ash.

"Rex, use Stone Edge!" said Robert.

Pikachu leapt forward, and in the blink of an eye, slammed right into the pale blue diamond on Rex's stomach. Rex gave a look that seemed to say, "You've got to do better than that." Rex slowly raised his arms, and from the ground rose up dozens of flat, diamond-shaped stones about four inches wide and five inches long. With a flick of his claws, the rocks shot as if propelled by rockets in Pikachu's direction. Pikachu scurried left and right to try and dodge, but eventually was slashed along the right side of his neck by a Stone Edge rock, and the wound started to bleed.

"Pikachu, use Thunder!" said Ash.

"Rex, use Crunch!" said Robert.

While Pikachu charged up electric energy in his cheeks, Rex opened up his mouth, exposing teeth that began to radiate darkness. Rex began rushing towards Pikachu with his teeth barred, and Pikachu sent an electric charge high up into the air. At the moment Rex clamped down on Pikachu, the Thunder attack came down and struck Rex, and then continued to flow into Pikachu, as the two were in physical contact with each other. So while they were both suffered the pain of the incredibly powerful bolt of lightning, Pikachu also had the Crunch from Rex to deal with, and therefore ended up on the short end of the stick. Pikachu eventually stopped the attack, but he was already very weak. Rex made one more forceful clamp, and then backed off.

"Rex, finish him off with Earthquake!" said Robert.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" said Ash.

Pikachu repeated the usual procedure for Thunderbolt, and delivered an electrical charge to Rex that should have fried him, and nearly did. However, Rex somehow survived, despite sustaining numerous burns across his body, and stomped his right foot onto the ground again, causing another powerful tremor to occur, and eliciting the same response from the crowd as before. Pikachu, being both weak to Ground type attacks and weary from before, soon passed out. Ash went out to get him, and brought him back to where he was standing.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. The round goes to Rex!" said Brock.

"Rex, I'm not even going to ask," said Robert.

_I know he's at a double type disadvantage against Rex, but he's the only one I have left,_ Ash thought as he sent out his last Pokémon. "Go, Charizard!"

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Rex, use Stone Edge and clip his wings!" said Robert. "But not literally."

"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" said Ash.

Rex again summoned many razor sharp stones, and then launched them at Charizard, who quickly flew out of the way by soaring into the air. Then Charizard flew above Rex, and shot a pillar of flame straight down on top of him. Charizard kept it up for over two minutes. Everyone watched in awe, figuring that Rex surely had been KO'd by then, and that what Charizard was doing was unnecessary. But then, a lone arm, charred pitch black by the burns, emerged out of the column of fire, and soon, the rest of Rex followed, black as night. Charizard simply reoriented his attack, but Rex kept moving.

Eventually, Rex stopped, again becoming a stationary target for Charizard. But when the fiery tower once more surrounded him, he looked up with resentment at Charizard, raised his hands, and launched a massive Stone Edge attack straight up into the air. The stones had been summoned from the entire area, and all shot themselves at Charizard. Whether Rex's intention was to get Charizard to move, thus not being able to focus his Flamethrower on Rex any longer, or simply to KO Charizard, he succeeded in neither. Charizard simply rose straight upwards, high enough that the stones either couldn't reach him or had lost so much momentum that they just bounced right off him, while still maintaining his scorching of Rex. Charizard kept it up for another five minutes or so, then gradually stopped, and flew back down. Rex collapsed to the ground, a having suffered from severe burns (See A/N4 at the bottom of the page).

"Rex is unable to battle. The round goes to Charizard!" said Brock.

"Charizard, you're the last one left, so you have to stay out there by default," said Ash. Charizard nodded in acknowledgement.

"Let's see, who should I use?" Robert mused. "Altron, you're up!"

Robert sent Altron out onto the field.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Altron, use Dragon Claw!" said Robert.

Altron extended his arms forward as they lengthened and glowed white, and flew towards Charizard, prepared to slash him with his claws. He got closer and closer to Charizard, until right before he got there, Ash said, "Charizard, pick him up and use Seismic Toss!"

Charizard jumped forward, grabbed a stunned Altron in his claws, and soared high up into the air. When he reached a certain height, he started spinning around in a circle, and a picture of the Earth appeared inside the circle. Then Charizard, still gripping Altron, flew straight down, and crashed into the ground. A huge cloud of dust appeared, and when it blew away, Charizard was standing there, panting, with Altron KO'd.

"Altron is unable to battle. The round goes to Charizard!" said Brock.

"Heh, so it all comes down to this. You're tougher than Lance, I'll give you that, Ash," said Robert.

"You, on the other hand, are just like your brother," said Ash.

"Circuit, go!" said Robert.

"Begin!" said Brock.

"Charizard, end this quickly! Use Seismic Toss again!" said Ash.

_Blast, Circuit will be KO'd for sure if he takes a hit like that from Charizard,_ Robert thought. _There's only one thing I can do._

Charizard flew over to Circuit, picked up the large red and white sphere and flew high up into the air. When Charizard rose to several hundred feet above the ground, Robert knew it was the time to act.

"**EXPLOSION!**" screamed Robert.

Up in the sky, Circuit exploded in such a spectacular blast of orange and yellow flame that it could be seen throughout Johto. Both Circuit and Charizard were seen falling back down to Earth, and when they hit the ground, they caused two massive craters to be formed where they landed. When the resulting smoke from the impact cleared, both Pokémon were clearly unconscious.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle. The result of the match is a draw!" declared Robert.

Both trainers returned their Pokémon.

"Wait just a minute," said Misty. "I thought that in this situation, the Pokémon that uses Self-destruct or Explosion loses."

"Nah, where on Earth did you get that crazy idea?" said Brock. "It says right here in the Official Pokémon League Rule Book that this is how a draw happens."

"I don't know," said Misty, embarrassed. "I just figured—"

"Well, you were wrong," said Robert, walking up to her. "But I'm sure you didn't mean to be so wrong. And Ash, I guess neither of us is better than the other."

"Heck no, Robert, you got off easy. I had you beat, before you used Explosion," countered Ash.

"But were you able to complete the victory before I made it a draw? No. If I hadn't used Explosion, I admit I would have lost. But that was not how the events played out. As it is, Circuit used Explosion before Charizard was able to finish Seismic Toss, and KO'd both itself and Charizard, resulting in a draw."

"He makes a very clear and logical point, Ash," said Brock.

"Fine, I guess you were right. Anyway, we better get to the Pokémon Center. Pikachu's beat up pretty badly, and I'm sure Rex isn't any better," said Ash.

"That's true. Let's go," said Robert.

--

Later, at the Pokémon Center…

"So Victoria, what'd you find?" Robert asked Victoria over the phone.

"Well, apparently it's an exceedingly rare and recessive genetic trait among Messengers," Victoria answered. "The last person to have it was Cynthia's great-great-grandmother, Kristen Locks, in the line Garchomp Messengers."

"Cynthia, the Champion of Shin'ou?" Brock asked, getting dreamy-eyed.

"I really want to pull his ear right now, but something tells me I shouldn't," Misty mused.

"Yes," replied Victoria. "Anyway, before Kristen, I had to go back centuries to find another case before that. So it's not like it's never happened before. But it's just extremely unusual, like being a Shiny."

"I see. Thanks for your help, Victoria," said Robert.

"Your welcome. Goodbye," Victoria said as she hung up.

"Where to now, Robert?" asked Ash.

"Goldenrod City," said Robert.

--

A/N4: This scene was inspired by "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce. I personally don't listen to music at all—ever. But I do have Guitar Hero III. I'm not very good at it, and quite frankly I suck. I've been trying to ace this song on Medium mode for three weeks now (unsuccessfully), and I've played it so much I've inadvertently memorized the lyrics, which aren't all that bad.

For those of you who like superpower fics, such as If I Could Change the World by dazdnconfusd730, there's a very good one that just popped up a few months ago called Progenitor Samurai, by Kefka VI. It's got about eight reviews for each chapter that isn't an announcement, and it's been nominated for Reader's Choice on The Pokémon Tower.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: All of my readers that are IkariShippers, my respect for you will increase exponentially if you watch this one anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion. YOU MUST SEE IT! It contains a bigger IkariShipping hint everything in the actual Pokémon series combined, then multiplied by ten thousand.


	9. Confrontation in Goldenrod City

Note: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, someone such as FUNimation, who dubs the Fullmetal Alchemist anime, would be dubbing the show, and someone like BONES, who writes the Fullmetal Alchemist anime, would be writing the show. Of course, I've only read the FMA manga (which I enjoy very much), but I've heard that the anime is well-written and well-dubbed (even if the movie was like something out of a bad fanfiction). Also, sorry about the delay. School comes before fanfiction.

This chapter is dedicated to **Emperor Kra Frostwing**.

* * *

Chapter 9: Confrontation in Goldenrod City

A few days into their trip from Ecruteak to Goldenrod, the group of five decided to spend a day and night in the National Park.

"If I remember correctly, there's a bug-catching contest held here on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays," noted Robert. "Too bad it's Wednesday. I'd have liked to enter one."

"We can stay tomorrow," said Brock.

Misty took out her mallet and slammed Brock to the other side of the park with it, yelling, "We are NOT staying tomorrow! We are leaving at SIX in the morning!"

Ash and Pikachu snuck off to go find a good place to camp.

"That would be when the contest starts, I believe," said Robert, fearless of Misty's wrath.

"Then we're leaving at FIVE in the morning!" shouted Misty. "Ash, you better wake up tomorrow! Hey, do you hear me?"

_How could I not; she's as loud as a Saturn V,_ thought Ash. He looked over at Misty from the campgrounds and nodded.

The group went sightseeing in the park for the rest of the day. Brock grilled some brats for lunch on a portable grill, just one of many convenient objects stored in his travel pack. In the afternoon, Ash and Robert were challenged to short battles by several people who wanted to take on the Champions. They easily defeated the challengers, but kept it fun. The group let their Pokémon out for exercise in the evening while they went to watch a model rocket competition on the northeast side of the park.

Afterwards, they went back to the site where they had set up camp, talked with each other until around ten thirty, and went into their tents.

As Misty walked into her tent, she fell down onto her sleeping bag and stuck her face in her pillow. She started yelling inaudibly into the pillow, and after a few minutes, Brock came into her tent.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing you can do anything about," said Misty. "Now get out of my tent!"

Brock quickly backed out of the structure. A few minutes later, Robert came in.

He asked, "Is it because Ash is a Messenger now?"

"This isn't your problem!" yelled Misty.

"Look, I know it must be difficult, but—"

"Out!" declared Misty, pointing at the entrance to the tent.

"Sorry," said Robert as he left.

Misty yelled into and beat her pillow a little longer until Ash walked in with a concerned look on his face. He crouched down next to where Misty was lying down.

"Misty…" he began.

"What?" Misty asked angrily.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked.

"I…I don't know…" replied Misty.

"What do you think is wrong, then?" Ash continued.

"I…I don't know if it's wrong to love you," said Misty, nearly in tears. "You're a Messenger now; you're part Pokémon."

"And that was a lab accident that I had no control over," said Ash.

"I know, but still…" Misty said.

"Misty, I'm still me," said Ash. "I may be part Jolteon now, but I'm still the same Ash you've known for five years. This is just another adventure."

That did the trick. Misty got up and hugged Ash. Ash hugged her back. They embraced each other so long that they lost track of time. They just stood there, holding on to each other, comforting one another. After a while, they separated.

"Besides," said Ash, "could a Jolteon do this?"

He kissed her passionately for about thirty seconds, but it seemed to last longer than that. When they finished, and Ash was about to leave, Misty said, "I'm glad to know you're still Ash Ketchum."

"I love you Misty," said Ash, leaving.

"You too, Ash."

* * *

The next day, in Goldenrod City…

"Ah, Goldenrod," said Ash as they entered a plaza on the north side of the city. "It's been so long since we've been here!"

"The last time we were here, we were on that radio show with Team Rocket," remembered Misty.

"Man, what was the longest you guys have gone without meeting up with them?" asked Robert.

"I think we managed to go three days undisturbed once," said Brock.

Just at that moment, a voice to their left exclaimed, "Long time no see, Ashy-boy."

"Gary," said Ash, "we don't really have time for this."

"You said that last time," remarked Gary. "But that didn't stop you then. Besides, you can't be busy all the time. I know being a Master is a demanding job, but surely you have the time to have a little battle between you and me."

"Unfortunately for you, I'm still busy with the same problem as last time, and I don't think we'll be done with this for a while," said Ash.

"You're just afraid," Gary taunted.

Since Ash both outranked Gary and beat him in their last battle, this didn't have nearly the effect Gary had anticipated. Ash merely tightened his fists and ground his teeth, but didn't vocally respond to his rival.

Then, Robert stepped forward, taking a Pokéball off his belt. "If it'll make you leave us alone, Gary, I'll battle you," he said.

"I suppose I'll settle for that," agreed Gary.

"As Ash has already said, we don't have a lot of time," said Robert. "So let's make it just three-on-three."

"Aw, you're no fun," complained Gary.

"I'll ref," said Brock, taking out two flags.

Robert and Gary both enlarged their Pokéballs and stared at each other, ready.

"Begin," Brock said.

"Go, Chaos!" said Robert as he sent out his Alakazam.

"Go Arcanine!" said Gary at the same time.

"This should be interesting," Misty mused. "Neither of them has a type advantage over the other."

"Chaos, use Light Screen," said Robert calmly.

Chaos stretched his hands out in front of himself. He waved them around, and a screen so translucent that it was almost transparent appeared between Chaos and Arcanine. He continued to wave his arms in the same tight, circular pattern in front of him, maintaining the Light Screen. He then firmly planted his feet in the ground and waited, ready.

"Arcanine, use Take Down!" said Gary. "As a physical move, Light Screen won't protect him from it!"

Arcanine gave an acknowledging bark. He crouched back, and then leapt forward at high speed, sprinting towards Chaos. Before he reached Chaos, he lowered his head and picked up the pace even more. He passed right through the Light Screen as if it were nonexistent and knocked Chaos into the air. Chaos landed twenty feet away from his original spot, while Arcanine took recoil from his powerful attack and slid back about a foot, not showing the pain he had undoubtedly sustained.

Chaos slowly got back up, but get back up he did, and he was soon on his feet, panting slightly and bruised in the stomach, where Arcanine had hit him. He then moved his Light Screen to his new location.

"Chaos, use Barrier," said Robert.

Chaos repeated the procedure he had performed to create Light Screen for Barrier. He stretched his arms out in front of him, motioned with them, and set up another nearly transparent shield in front of him, layered right on top of the Light Screen. He finished creating the Barrier and returned to a fighting stance.

"Arcanine, use Fire Blast!" said Gary.

Arcanine firmly planted his feet in the ground, opened his mouth, and breathed a powerful inferno from his belly. The flames were shaped just like the kanji for fire, interestingly. They continued on towards Chaos, but when they reached the Light Screen, their progress was impeded, and they diffused by roughly half before quickly passing through. Chaos didn't have time to move, and was hit by the significantly weakened Fire Blast. He fell over backwards onto the ground with burns covering the front of his body. However, it was nothing too severe, and he was able to barely get back up again.

"Chaos, use Psychic!" declared Robert.

Chaos nodded. He held his two spoons out in front of his face and closed his eyes, concentrating. When he opened them up, they were glowing pale blue and looking right at Arcanine. Arcanine was surrounded in a haze the same pale blue as Chaos' eyes. He was lifted off the ground and flung into a nearby telephone pole, then into a fire hydrant, and various other objects around the plaza. After several minutes of this, Chaos finished. Arcanine fell from ten feet up and hit the ground hard. He was lying in the ground, bruised all over, in some places bleeding, and whimpering as if he were a Growlithe pup again.

"Arcanine is unable to battle. The round goes to Chaos," said Brock.

"Arcanine, return," said Gary. He pulled out another Pokéball. "This'll be fun. Go, Umbreon!"

He sent Umbreon out onto the battlefield.

"Chaos, I know how stubborn you are about not giving up until you can't fight anymore," began Robert, "but given the state you're in and the fact that Umbreon is a Dark type, I really think you should return. You can't possibly win."

"Zam! Ala alakazam ka kazam alaka ala zam alakazam kazam ka ala zam!" -No! I'm going to show that I'm so much stronger than that Dark type that I can damage it with Psychic attacks!- said Chaos.

"That's not how it works…"

"Kazam!"

"Your funeral," shrugged Robert.

"Begin!" declared Brock.

Robert put his hand to his forehead and sighed, "Chaos, use Psychic."

"Umbreon, use Faint Attack!" said Gary excitedly.

Chaos held his spoons in front of his glowing blue eyes again, but Umbreon wasn't surrounded by the blue haze that had defeated Arcanine. Chaos kept trying, but Umbreon, being a Dark type, wasn't affected by the Psychic attack. As Umbreon crouched down, he closed his eyes. When he reopened them a second later, he could see more clearly than before; he could even tell what motions Chaos was going to take by the movements of his muscles. He sprung forth and rammed Chaos right under the chin, sending Chaos back about seven feet. Chaos collapsed from the Dark type damage, motionless.

"Chaos is unable to battle. The round goes to Umbreon," announced Brock.

"Chaos, return," said Robert, shaking his head. After Chaos reentered the Pokéball, Robert said, "No matter how hard you try, you can't break the laws of nature. Psychic type attacks don't affect Dark types."

"You should've called your Pokémon back when I sent out Umbreon, Mr. Champion," said Gary in a slightly mocking voice.

"I always give my Pokémon the option. If they want to battle, I let them. If they want to rest, I return them. Otherwise I'd be stooping to…" Robert was going to say "your level," but realized that would be socially unnecessary. "A lower level than one expected of a Master."

"Send out your next Pokémon, Robert," said Gary.

"First it's Mr. Champion, then it's Robert? Make up your mind about the formality of the situation. Personally, I really don't care what you call me, but at least be consistent," said Robert. "But anyway, go, Rex!"

Robert sent Rex out onto the field. He took in a deep breath of the fresh air and let out a mighty roar, confident of a victory.

"Begin," said Brock.

"Umbreon, Skull Bash!" said Gary.

Umbreon lowered his head.

"Rex, use Earthquake," said Robert.

Rex stomped both of his feet into the ground; immediately, an immense tremor pulsed out from where Rex was. Street signs, telephone poles, and other terrain features collapsed under the powerful shake. Specifically, there was a nasty fault right where Umbreon was, and Umreon was caught awkwardly on a bit of rock as it suddenly jut forth from the Earth. Rex ceased his attack. As Gary ran up to Umbreon, he could see that Umbreon's left thigh was bleeding profusely from a horrible slash it had sustained. Umbreon wasn't moving, except to breathe.

"Umbreon is unable to battle. The round goes to Rex," declared Brock.

"Pathetic," muttered Gary. "Return."

"Rex…" began Robert.

"Ty."

"Good," said Robert.

Gary took his third Pokéball from his belt. "Nidoking, go!"

Nidoking appeared on the field.

"Begin," said Brock.

"Nidoking, use Thrash!" commanded Gary.

"Rex, Crunch!" said Robert.

Nidoking reared his head and roared. His face wore an angry look. Roaring again, he charged at Rex, his tail swinging behind him. He turned around two feet short of Rex and swung his tail around in a powerful arc, slamming it into Rex's right side. Rex fell over, but he immediately got back up. As he did so, he clenched his black jaws onto Nidoking's right arm, drawing blood. Nidoking roared yet again, but he was thrashing about; he didn't stop his assault on Rex.

"Rex, end this quickly with Earthquake!" said Robert.

Escaping from Nidoking's wrath temporarily, Rex again pounded the ground with each of his feet. At once, the ground began to shift along an artificial fault line passing through Rex's spot to Nidoking's. Nidoking fell into a fissure and got stuck before being almost completely buried. When Rex finished, he went over to the pile of rocks to uncover an unconscious Nidoking.

"Nidoking is unable to battle. Robert is the winner!" proclaimed Brock.

"Nidoking, I expected better from you," said Gary.

"Now will you leave us alone?" asked Ash.

"I will, but not because I got what I came for," said Gary. "I wanted to battle you, Ashy-boy."

"Some other time. Not now," Ash said back.

"See you later, Ashy-boy," said Gary.

Gary walked away, heading in the direction of Goldenrod's Pokémon Center.

"Now that that's over, we need to find Team Rocket's base," said Robert. "But although we don't know where that is, I know someone who might."

"Who?" asked Misty.

"And old friend of my dad's," replied Robert. "He'll be able to tell us where the Rockets are."

* * *

Author's notes:

Once again, I'd like to apologize for taking eight weeks to update. I'm sorry. Gomen nasai. Lo ciento. I'm going to explain myself. As most of you are aware, for the first five weeks, I had a five page paper on Singapore to work on. The other three weeks? Well, for the first one, I worked a little bit on chapter nine, but I suddenly had an idea for a Naruto fanfic called Heirs to the Forest that I felt compelled to write. I ended up writing three chapters of 14,000 words for it. The reason I started another fic is not because I'm going to abandon Master Chronicles—far from it. I will never leave a story unfinished, and if I ever go on hiatus, I will return. That's my policy, and I stick to it. However, I write best when I have an idea or inspiration, and I had that in spades for Heirs to the Forest. I realize I told you about a Gundam Wing fic called Phoenix, which I actually have written the first few chapters of (a while ago). I said that I would start that after MC, and I never said anything about any other story I might be inspired to write, like HttF. I'm really sorry; I do have the general idea for the rest of this story planned out. There are going to be two or three more chapters, and in all likelihood, there won't be an epilogue. I'm really sorry, but never, ever think that I have abandoned any story.

As usual, I'd appreciate it if you could help me be a better writer. If you review, and you show me my mistakes and successes, I will listen. Dai-chan 7 (formerly Aggron15) suggested once that I make my chapters shorter; originally, this was going to feature the events in chapter ten, but I cut the chapter in half, as he advised. That's why this is the shortest chapter I've posted for Master Chronicles so far. I do accept criticism, but no flames. Not because they're offensive, but because flames don't help me at all. I can't learn anything from "you sux" or something like that.

-Delta


End file.
